The Robert Mueller Investigation

[jimmyjazz 45,898]

Still waiting for that quote by the NYT where they call the dossier fake . . . liar.

[hobbes2702 13,032]

20 minutes ago, Crusher said:

Bullshit.

"About 70-80% has been supported," Quoted from Horn Cyclist on the last page.

Here's another fact... 87.5% of statistical data is made up right on the spot.

The fucking NYT is saying that the dossier is fake. Possibly Russian disinformation. Do you know what a huge turn in the media this is?

Trump has been facing a wall of media bias from day one. The truth is starting to come out and the NYT (which has hated on Trump) is now having report real news. Else they are done.

Truth will out. Damn straight!!

 

Are they?

[Crusher 127]

But the release on Thursday of the report by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, underscored what had grown clearer for months — that while many Trump aides had welcomed contacts with the Russians, some of the most sensational claims in the dossier appeared to be false, and others were impossible to prove. Mr. Mueller’s report contained over a dozen passing references to the document’s claims but no overall assessment of why so much did not check out.

[hobbes2702 13,032]

So they aren’t saying it’s fake or you can’t read? Which is it?

[jimmyjazz 45,898]

Seriously, Crusher.  You just can't read.  I'm done -- 'night.

[TornACL 7,698]

I always enjoy when people post snippets from an article so you can't tell if it's an Op Ed. 

[Anastasis 23,469]

1 hour ago, horncyclist said:

There are tons of articles out there comparing the dossier to what was proven by Mueller. About 70-80% has been supported, 10% shown to be false and 10-20% is still unverified, could be true. You can go search and pick your preferred comparison. It's also been discussed in this thread. How could you be so obtuse?

 

Here, this is a good fact-based comparison: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/04/24/what-steele-dossier-said-vs-what-mueller-report-said/.

Except for all the explicit parts regarding sophisticated coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia to interfere in the election it was spot on!

So what it was used as partial pretext to spin up a counterintelligence operation.  This is how things work. Secret courts provided a curated intelligence picture have signed off on it.  What me worry?

[Crusher 127]

7 minutes ago, hobbes2702 said:

So they aren’t saying it’s fake or you can’t read? Which is it?

Another possibility — one that Mr. Steele has not ruled out — could be Russian disinformation. That would mean that in addition to carrying out an effective attack on the Clinton campaign, Russian spymasters hedged their bets and placed a few land mines under Mr. Trump’s presidency as well.

Oleg D. Kalugin, a former K.G.B. general who now lives outside Washington, saw that as plausible. “Russia has huge experience in spreading false information,” he said.

[Crusher 127]

9 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Seriously, Crusher.  You just can't read.  I'm done -- 'night.

You have been asleep for two years...

[hobbes2702 13,032]

I’ll give you that. They do say that it’s possibly Russian disinformation, although they don’t mention the parts that have been confirmed as fact so...

and I think we are still yet to see them say it’s fake. Seriously man learn to read. It’s fundamental.

[Anastasis 23,469]

9 minutes ago, Crusher said:

Another possibility — one that Mr. Steele has not ruled out — could be Russian disinformation. That would mean that in addition to carrying out an effective attack on the Clinton campaign, Russian spymasters hedged their bets and placed a few land mines under Mr. Trump’s presidency as well.

 Oleg D. Kalugin, a former K.G.B. general who now lives outside Washington, saw that as plausible. “Russia has huge experience in spreading false information,” he said.

I linked that article here a few pages back. It resulted in bunch of personal attacks without much in the way of engaging discussion. The NYT has been laying ground for a counter narrative to the OIG report over the last couple weeks.  Clearly sources within the FBI that feel threatened by the findings and want to get the spin out in front. But the totallynormalbrains here don't see the play unfolding. 

[Ted Lange 16,084]

50 minutes ago, Crusher said:

Do I have to post the NYT article again?

So is the New York Times, fake news or not.  Can’t have it both ways Trumpkin. 

[Crusher 127]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That is what it would look like if I couldn't read. Or write. So...on to the point...

Obviously two human beings are reading the same words and not getting the same meaning. I can get that.

I do not have anything to gain from supporting Trump. Hell I didn't even vote for him. I don't particularly like him. But you don't just get to boot a President out of office because you don't like him. That is what I have seen from day one. Lots of protests. Lots of noise. And now a possible conspiracy against Trump?

4 years is a short period of time.  The Dems didn't try and use that time to learn. To get to know their constituents better. No they just chose to attack anything Trump. They missed a chance.

The pendulum swings. Usually equally back and forth. Back and forth. When someone sticks their finger out in an effort to stop that pendulum? Shit gets bad.

 

 

[suddenly shaggy 929]

Make a list of things that have been falsified from the dossier, it's a short list. Cohen to Prague

 

Now let's look at the rest of it. This article was posted on the last page, but y'all clearly didn't read it. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/04/24/what-steele-dossier-said-vs-what-mueller-report-said/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.4d37e7a6153e

What the Steele dossier said vs. what the Mueller report said

Glenn Kessler

Barr knew that special counsel Robert Mueller had voiced concerns about his March 24 letter, but did not mention them while testifying under oath in April. (Meg Kelly/The Washington Post)

Fox News’s Martha MacCallum: “So it doesn’t bother you that the Clinton campaign paid for a dossier to be put together by someone who had all kinds of ties to intelligence and put together something that turned out to be not necessarily factual?” 

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.): “Which part of it hasn’t been proved factual?” 

MacCallum: “I mean, are you serious? … For one thing, Michael Cohen said he never went to Prague. Do you agree with that?” 

Swalwell: “But which part has been proved to be not factual?” 

— exchange on Fox News, March 23, 2019 

Now that a redacted version of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report has been released, what about the dossier?

The “dossier” consists of more than a dozen memos, based on conversations with Russian sources, that were written between June and December 2016 by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele under a contract with the research firm Fusion GPS. The company had been hired by a law firm connected to the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee to look into Trump’s ties with Russia.

The dossier was intended as raw, unverified intelligence. But it achieved notoriety after incoming President Trump was briefed on its contents by then-FBI Director James B. Comey in early 2017 and BuzzFeed published a version of it.

The FBI’s counterintelligence operation into whether Russia was assisting the Trump campaign was not prompted by the dossier. But the FBI was aware of the document and used Steele as a source. The FBI even obtained a secret court order to monitor the communications of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page after convincing a judge on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that there was probable cause to believe he was acting as an agent of a foreign power, Russia. Steele also briefed selected reporters during the campaign on his findings.

The dossier is a political Rorschach test. Depending on your perspective, it’s either a hoax used to defame a future president or a credible guide to allegations about Trump’s involvement with Russia. That vast gulf in perceptions is captured in the exchange above.

The dossier itself was not intended to be published and consists largely of rumors and gossip — the starting point for investigative reporters and law enforcement officials, not the end point.

Defenders of the dossier say its overall message — that Russia wanted to help Trump win the election, in part to sow discord in the United States — has been validated by the Mueller report. Detractors say many of the details have been proved false or remain unverified.

Neither case is confirmed by the Mueller report. Mueller was looking for criminal acts, not seeking to confirm the dossier. In fact, Steele is rarely mentioned in the more than 400 pages. So one cannot necessarily say the Mueller report ends the matter, given a continuing counterintelligence investigation. But some key elements certainly appear in grave doubt.

“The Mueller Report substantiates the core reporting and many of the specifics in Christopher Steele’s 2016 memoranda, including that Trump campaign figures were secretly meeting Kremlin figures, that Russia was conducting a covert operation to elect Donald Trump, and that the aim of the Russian operation was to sow discord and disunity in the U.S. and within the Transatlantic Alliance,” Joshua A. Levy, counsel for Fusion GPS, told The Fact Checker. “To our knowledge, nothing in the Steele memoranda has been disproven.”

Here’s a guide to how elements of the dossier match up with the Mueller report, along with our analysis.

 

“Russian regime has been cultivating, supporting and assisting TRUMP for at least 5 years. Aim, endorsed by PUTIN, has been to encourage splits and divisions in western alliance.” 

— Steele memo 80, dated June 20, 2016

The Mueller report documents extensive Russian efforts to ensure Trump’s victory, through hacking operations and social media efforts. Mueller also details Trump’s business interests in Russia, especially pursuit of a Trump Tower project in Moscow.

Talks on the project continued even as Trump pursued the presidency — and Trump aide Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to misleading Congress about those efforts. But a case could also be made that the memo’s political analysis about Russia’s motivations might have been made by any close reader of the newspapers. By the time this memo was written, The Washington Post had already broken the news that Russia had hacked the Democratic National Committee.

 

“There were other aspects to TRUMP’s engagement with the Russian authorities. One which had borne fruit for them was to exploit personal obsessions and sexual perversion in order to obtain suitable ‘kompromat’ [compromising material] on him.” 

— Memo 80

We won’t get into the details, but the most salacious material in the dossier concerned allegations that Trump cavorted with sex workers in Moscow in 2013 — and that the Russians had tape of the incident. Mueller actually addresses this allegation in an intriguing footnote that called the claim “unverified” but suggested Trump had heard Russia might have such incriminating tapes.

“Comey’s briefing [to Trump] included the Steele reporting’s unverified allegation that the Russians had compromising tapes of the President involving conduct when he was a private citizen during a 2013 trip to Moscow for the Miss Universe Pageant,” the report said. “During the 2016 presidential campaign, a similar claim may have reached candidate Trump. On October 30, 2016, [Trump attorney] Michael Cohen received a text from Russian businessman Giorgi Rtskhiladze that said, ‘Stopped flow of tapes from Russia but not sure if there’s anything else. Just so you know … .’ Rtskhiladze said ‘tapes’ referred to compromising tapes of Trump rumored to be held by persons associated with the Russian real estate conglomerate Crocus Group, which had helped host the 2013 Miss Universe Pageant in Russia. Cohen said he spoke to Trump about the issue after receiving the texts from Rtskhiladze. Rtskhiladze said he was told the tapes were fake, but he did not communicate that to Cohen.”

 

“Russia has extensive program of state-sponsored offensive cyberoperations.” 

— Memo 86, dated July 26, 2016

This was documented in the Mueller report, but it was also well known at the time Steele wrote this memo. The methods described in this document do not match up with the methods used by the Russians to obtain DNC and Clinton campaign emails during the 2016 campaign.

 

“Further evidence of extensive conspiracy between campaign team and Kremlin, sanctioned at highest levels and involving Russian diplomatic staff based in the US. Agreed exchange of information established in both directions.” 

— Memo 95, undated, probably July

This memo makes the strongest suggestion of coordination and collusion — a “conspiracy” — between the Russian government and the Trump campaign. The memo claims an “agreed exchange of information in both directions,” with “Trump’s team using moles within the DNC and hackers in the US.” The memo further states that Putin was “motivated by fear and hatred of Hillary Clinton.”

The Mueller investigation did not find such a level of coordination. Instead, it suggests the Trump campaign was opportunistic about apparent assistance from Russia, but Mueller could not find evidence the conspiracy outlined in the memo existed.

Instead, the report described Russian contacts that “consisted of business connections, offers of assistance to the Campaign, invitations for candidate Trump and Putin to meet in person, invitations for Campaign officials and representatives of the Russian government to meet, and policy positions seeking improved U.S.-Russian relations.”

“Although the investigation established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome, and that the Campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts, the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities,” Mueller concluded.

 

“TRUMP associate admits Kremlin behind recent appearance of DNC e-mails on WikiLeaks, as means of maintaining plausible deniability.” 

— Memo 95

This is correct. Mueller concluded that Russia distributed hacked material through WikiLeaks, as well as fictitious online personas “DCLeaks” and “Guccifer 2.0.” The report noted: “The presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump showed interest in WikiLeaks’s releases of documents and welcomed their potential to damage candidate Clinton.” Large sections of the WikiLeaks discussion are redacted in the public version of the report, citing an ongoing investigation.

 

“This [coordination] was managed on the TRUMP side by the Republican candidate’s campaign manager, Paul MANAFORT, who was using foreign policy advisor, Carter PAGE, and others as intermediaries. The two sides had a mutual interest in defeating Democratic presidential candidate Hillary CLINTON, whom President PUTIN apparently both hated and feared.” 

— Memo 95

The Mueller report does not show that Manafort used Trump foreign policy aide Carter Page as an intermediary with Russia before he was ousted from the campaign in August. Manafort had his own Russia-linked connections, as documented in the report.

“On August 2, 2016, Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort met in New York City with his long-time business associate Konstantin Kilimnik, who the FBI assesses to have ties to Russian intelligence,” the report said. “Kilimnik requested the meeting to deliver in person a peace plan for Ukraine that Manafort acknowledged to the Special Counsel’s Office was a ‘backdoor’ way for Russia to control part of eastern Ukraine; both men believed the plan would require candidate Trump’s assent to succeed (were he to be elected President). They also discussed the status of the Trump Campaign and Manafort’ s strategy for winning Democratic votes in Midwestern states. Months before that meeting, Manafort had caused internal polling data to be shared with Kilimnik, and the sharing continued for some period of time after their August meeting.”

Kilimnik has denied to The Washington Post that he has any ties to Russian intelligence.

The report says that Manafort lied to prosecutors about his dealings with Kilimnik, resulting in termination of his cooperation agreement. “The Office could not reliably determine Manafort’s purpose in sharing internal polling data with Kilimnik during the campaign period,” the report said, but added: “The investigation did not establish that Manafort otherwise coordinated with the Russian government on its election-interference efforts.”

 

“TRUMP advisor Carter PAGE holds secret meetings in Moscow with [Rosneft president] SECHIN and senior Kremlin Internal Affairs official, DIVYEKIN. SECHIN raises issues of future bilateral US-Russia energy co-operation and associated lifting of western sanctions against Russia over Ukraine.” 

— Memo 94, dated July 19, 2016

“In terms of the substance of their discussion SECHIN’s associate said that the Rosneft President was so keen to lift personal and corporate western sanctions imposed on the company, that he offered PAGE associates the brokerage of up to a 19 percent (privatized) stake in Rosneft in return. PAGE had expressed interest and confirmed that were TRUMP elected US president, then sanctions on Russia would be lifted.” 

— Memo 134, dated Oct. 18, 2016

The Mueller report does not confirm a meeting between Page, then a low-level campaign adviser, and the president of Rosneft. But Mueller did document a meeting between Page and a lower-level Rosneft official. The meeting included discussion of a possible sale of part of Rosneft, though apparently not in the context of a reward for lifting sanctions.

“Page said that, during his time in Moscow, he met with friends and associates he knew from when he lived in Russia, including Andrey Baranov, a former Gazprom employee who had become the head of investor relations at Rosneft, a Russian energy company,” the Mueller report said. “Page stated that he and Baranov talked about ‘immaterial non-public’ information. Page believed he and Baranov discussed Rosneft president Igor Sechin, and he thought Baranov might have mentioned the possibility of a sale of a stake in Rosneft in passing.”

The report stated that Page shook hands with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, who made statements to Page about working together in the future. Page wrote a memo to the campaign that Dvorkovich “expressed strong support for Mr. Trump,” as did other senior members of the Putin administration. But the report added: “The Office was unable to obtain additional evidence or testimony about who Page may have met or communicated with in Moscow; thus, Page’s activities in Russia — as described in his emails with the Campaign — were not fully explained.”

 

“Top level Russian official confirms current closeness of Alpha Group-PUTIN relationship. Significant favors continue to be done in both directions... and [Petr] AVEN still giving informal advice to PUTIN, especially on US.” 

— Memo 112, Sept. 14, 2016

This memo gets the essence of the relationship between Putin and Russia’s largest commercial bank correct. (The Cyrillic name can be translated as Alfa or Alpha in Latin script; the bank itself prefers Alfa.)

“Aven told the Office that he is one of approximately 50 wealthy Russian businessmen who regularly meet with Putin in the Kremlin; these 50 men are often referred to as ‘oligarchs,’ ” the Mueller report said. “Aven told the Office that he met on a quarterly basis with Putin, including in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2016, shortly after the U.S. presidential election.” The report recounts how, at Putin’s direction, Aven sought to make contacts with the Trump transition team.

 

“Two knowledgeable St Petersburg sources claim Republican candidate TRUMP has paid bribes and engaged in sexual activities there but key witnesses silenced and evidence hard to obtain.” 

— Memo 113, dated Sept. 14, 2016

The Mueller report does not describe any bribes paid by Trump. There is no indication Mueller investigated this allegation.

 

"The Kremlin had more intelligence on CLINTON and her campaign but he did not know the details or when or if it would be released.” 

— Memo 96, dated July 30, 2016 

“Russians do have further kompromat on CLINTON (e-mails) and considering disseminating it after Duma (legislative elections) in late September.” 

— Memo 111, dated Sept. 14, 2016

These two memos accurately reported more Russian-obtained dirt on Clinton was coming.

On Oct. 7, The Post disclosed the “Access Hollywood” tape in which Trump had a lewd conversation about women, in what was considered a major setback for his campaign. “Less than an hour after the video’s publication, WikiLeaks released the first set of emails stolen by the GRU [Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Army] from the account of Clinton Campaign chairman John Podesta,” the Mueller report said. Mueller noted that thousands of Podesta emails had been stolen in late March. That means the Russians had held on to the material for nearly six months.

The report says that “metadata collected from the WikiLeaks site revealed that the stolen Podesta emails show a creation date of September 19, 2016,” indicating that is when it was transferred from the GRU to WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks released more than 50,000 Podesta documents in the month before the U.S. election.

 

“Kremlin insider reports TRUMP lawyer COHEN’s secret meeting/s with Kremlin officials in August 2016 was/were held in Prague.” 

— Memo 136, dated Oct. 20, 2016

The Mueller report suggests no such meeting in Prague took place, even though three of the Steele memos discuss this alleged meeting in detail.

One of the memos, dated Dec. 13, stated that Cohen was accompanied in Prague by three colleagues with an agenda of processing “deniable” cash payments to operatives, including hackers, and contingency plans to cover up the operations. Another memo, dated Oct. 19, described Cohen as a “secret liaison with Russian leadership,” a role that had supposedly grown with the departure of Manafort from the campaign.

Mueller does not indicate he investigated whether Cohen traveled to Prague; he simply dismisses the incident in Cohen’s own words as he discusses Cohen’s preparation for testimony before Congress.

”At that time [May 2017], Cohen understood Congress’s interest in him to be focused on the allegations in the Steele reporting concerning a meeting Cohen allegedly had with Russian officials in Prague during the campaign,” the report said. “Cohen had never traveled to Prague and was not concerned about those allegations, which he believed were provably false.”

The only listed source for this information is a “302,” code for an FBI summary of an interview with Cohen. He has not been consistent on whether he has ever been to Prague, telling the Wall Street Journal he had not been there since 2001, telling Mother Jones in 2016 he had been there for one afternoon 14 years earlier and reiterating on Twitter and to Congress he has never been there.

Cohen has been cooperating with the investigation after pleading guilty to criminal charges, including lying to Congress. So, facing a prison term, Cohen presumably would reveal such a meeting if it had occurred.

The Mueller report documents Trump Organization discussions about Cohen’s taking a trip to Moscow in 2016 to advance the Trump Tower Moscow project. But that trip never took place. Trump had signed a letter of intent in November 2015, as he was campaigning for the presidency.

[Crusher 127]

3 minutes ago, suddenly shaggy said:

Make a list of things that have been falsified from the dossier, it's a short list. Cohen to Prague

 

Now let's look at the rest of it. This article was posted on the last page, but y'all clearly didn't read it. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/04/24/what-steele-dossier-said-vs-what-mueller-report-said/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.4d37e7a6153e

What the Steele dossier said vs. what the Mueller report said

Glenn Kessler

Barr knew that special counsel Robert Mueller had voiced concerns about his March 24 letter, but did not mention them while testifying under oath in April. (Meg Kelly/The Washington Post)

Fox News’s Martha MacCallum: “So it doesn’t bother you that the Clinton campaign paid for a dossier to be put together by someone who had all kinds of ties to intelligence and put together something that turned out to be not necessarily factual?” 

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.): “Which part of it hasn’t been proved factual?” 

MacCallum: “I mean, are you serious? … For one thing, Michael Cohen said he never went to Prague. Do you agree with that?” 

Swalwell: “But which part has been proved to be not factual?” 

— exchange on Fox News, March 23, 2019 

Now that a redacted version of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report has been released, what about the dossier?

The “dossier” consists of more than a dozen memos, based on conversations with Russian sources, that were written between June and December 2016 by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele under a contract with the research firm Fusion GPS. The company had been hired by a law firm connected to the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee to look into Trump’s ties with Russia.

The dossier was intended as raw, unverified intelligence. But it achieved notoriety after incoming President Trump was briefed on its contents by then-FBI Director James B. Comey in early 2017 and BuzzFeed published a version of it.

The FBI’s counterintelligence operation into whether Russia was assisting the Trump campaign was not prompted by the dossier. But the FBI was aware of the document and used Steele as a source. The FBI even obtained a secret court order to monitor the communications of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page after convincing a judge on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that there was probable cause to believe he was acting as an agent of a foreign power, Russia. Steele also briefed selected reporters during the campaign on his findings.

The dossier is a political Rorschach test. Depending on your perspective, it’s either a hoax used to defame a future president or a credible guide to allegations about Trump’s involvement with Russia. That vast gulf in perceptions is captured in the exchange above.

The dossier itself was not intended to be published and consists largely of rumors and gossip — the starting point for investigative reporters and law enforcement officials, not the end point.

Defenders of the dossier say its overall message — that Russia wanted to help Trump win the election, in part to sow discord in the United States — has been validated by the Mueller report. Detractors say many of the details have been proved false or remain unverified.

Neither case is confirmed by the Mueller report. Mueller was looking for criminal acts, not seeking to confirm the dossier. In fact, Steele is rarely mentioned in the more than 400 pages. So one cannot necessarily say the Mueller report ends the matter, given a continuing counterintelligence investigation. But some key elements certainly appear in grave doubt.

“The Mueller Report substantiates the core reporting and many of the specifics in Christopher Steele’s 2016 memoranda, including that Trump campaign figures were secretly meeting Kremlin figures, that Russia was conducting a covert operation to elect Donald Trump, and that the aim of the Russian operation was to sow discord and disunity in the U.S. and within the Transatlantic Alliance,” Joshua A. Levy, counsel for Fusion GPS, told The Fact Checker. “To our knowledge, nothing in the Steele memoranda has been disproven.”

Here’s a guide to how elements of the dossier match up with the Mueller report, along with our analysis.

 

“Russian regime has been cultivating, supporting and assisting TRUMP for at least 5 years. Aim, endorsed by PUTIN, has been to encourage splits and divisions in western alliance.” 

— Steele memo 80, dated June 20, 2016

The Mueller report documents extensive Russian efforts to ensure Trump’s victory, through hacking operations and social media efforts. Mueller also details Trump’s business interests in Russia, especially pursuit of a Trump Tower project in Moscow.

Talks on the project continued even as Trump pursued the presidency — and Trump aide Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to misleading Congress about those efforts. But a case could also be made that the memo’s political analysis about Russia’s motivations might have been made by any close reader of the newspapers. By the time this memo was written, The Washington Post had already broken the news that Russia had hacked the Democratic National Committee.

 

“There were other aspects to TRUMP’s engagement with the Russian authorities. One which had borne fruit for them was to exploit personal obsessions and sexual perversion in order to obtain suitable ‘kompromat’ [compromising material] on him.” 

— Memo 80

We won’t get into the details, but the most salacious material in the dossier concerned allegations that Trump cavorted with sex workers in Moscow in 2013 — and that the Russians had tape of the incident. Mueller actually addresses this allegation in an intriguing footnote that called the claim “unverified” but suggested Trump had heard Russia might have such incriminating tapes.

“Comey’s briefing [to Trump] included the Steele reporting’s unverified allegation that the Russians had compromising tapes of the President involving conduct when he was a private citizen during a 2013 trip to Moscow for the Miss Universe Pageant,” the report said. “During the 2016 presidential campaign, a similar claim may have reached candidate Trump. On October 30, 2016, [Trump attorney] Michael Cohen received a text from Russian businessman Giorgi Rtskhiladze that said, ‘Stopped flow of tapes from Russia but not sure if there’s anything else. Just so you know … .’ Rtskhiladze said ‘tapes’ referred to compromising tapes of Trump rumored to be held by persons associated with the Russian real estate conglomerate Crocus Group, which had helped host the 2013 Miss Universe Pageant in Russia. Cohen said he spoke to Trump about the issue after receiving the texts from Rtskhiladze. Rtskhiladze said he was told the tapes were fake, but he did not communicate that to Cohen.”

 

“Russia has extensive program of state-sponsored offensive cyberoperations.” 

— Memo 86, dated July 26, 2016

This was documented in the Mueller report, but it was also well known at the time Steele wrote this memo. The methods described in this document do not match up with the methods used by the Russians to obtain DNC and Clinton campaign emails during the 2016 campaign.

 

“Further evidence of extensive conspiracy between campaign team and Kremlin, sanctioned at highest levels and involving Russian diplomatic staff based in the US. Agreed exchange of information established in both directions.” 

— Memo 95, undated, probably July

This memo makes the strongest suggestion of coordination and collusion — a “conspiracy” — between the Russian government and the Trump campaign. The memo claims an “agreed exchange of information in both directions,” with “Trump’s team using moles within the DNC and hackers in the US.” The memo further states that Putin was “motivated by fear and hatred of Hillary Clinton.”

The Mueller investigation did not find such a level of coordination. Instead, it suggests the Trump campaign was opportunistic about apparent assistance from Russia, but Mueller could not find evidence the conspiracy outlined in the memo existed.

Instead, the report described Russian contacts that “consisted of business connections, offers of assistance to the Campaign, invitations for candidate Trump and Putin to meet in person, invitations for Campaign officials and representatives of the Russian government to meet, and policy positions seeking improved U.S.-Russian relations.”

“Although the investigation established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome, and that the Campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts, the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities,” Mueller concluded.

 

“TRUMP associate admits Kremlin behind recent appearance of DNC e-mails on WikiLeaks, as means of maintaining plausible deniability.” 

— Memo 95

This is correct. Mueller concluded that Russia distributed hacked material through WikiLeaks, as well as fictitious online personas “DCLeaks” and “Guccifer 2.0.” The report noted: “The presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump showed interest in WikiLeaks’s releases of documents and welcomed their potential to damage candidate Clinton.” Large sections of the WikiLeaks discussion are redacted in the public version of the report, citing an ongoing investigation.

 

“This [coordination] was managed on the TRUMP side by the Republican candidate’s campaign manager, Paul MANAFORT, who was using foreign policy advisor, Carter PAGE, and others as intermediaries. The two sides had a mutual interest in defeating Democratic presidential candidate Hillary CLINTON, whom President PUTIN apparently both hated and feared.” 

— Memo 95

The Mueller report does not show that Manafort used Trump foreign policy aide Carter Page as an intermediary with Russia before he was ousted from the campaign in August. Manafort had his own Russia-linked connections, as documented in the report.

“On August 2, 2016, Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort met in New York City with his long-time business associate Konstantin Kilimnik, who the FBI assesses to have ties to Russian intelligence,” the report said. “Kilimnik requested the meeting to deliver in person a peace plan for Ukraine that Manafort acknowledged to the Special Counsel’s Office was a ‘backdoor’ way for Russia to control part of eastern Ukraine; both men believed the plan would require candidate Trump’s assent to succeed (were he to be elected President). They also discussed the status of the Trump Campaign and Manafort’ s strategy for winning Democratic votes in Midwestern states. Months before that meeting, Manafort had caused internal polling data to be shared with Kilimnik, and the sharing continued for some period of time after their August meeting.”

Kilimnik has denied to The Washington Post that he has any ties to Russian intelligence.

The report says that Manafort lied to prosecutors about his dealings with Kilimnik, resulting in termination of his cooperation agreement. “The Office could not reliably determine Manafort’s purpose in sharing internal polling data with Kilimnik during the campaign period,” the report said, but added: “The investigation did not establish that Manafort otherwise coordinated with the Russian government on its election-interference efforts.”

 

“TRUMP advisor Carter PAGE holds secret meetings in Moscow with [Rosneft president] SECHIN and senior Kremlin Internal Affairs official, DIVYEKIN. SECHIN raises issues of future bilateral US-Russia energy co-operation and associated lifting of western sanctions against Russia over Ukraine.” 

— Memo 94, dated July 19, 2016

“In terms of the substance of their discussion SECHIN’s associate said that the Rosneft President was so keen to lift personal and corporate western sanctions imposed on the company, that he offered PAGE associates the brokerage of up to a 19 percent (privatized) stake in Rosneft in return. PAGE had expressed interest and confirmed that were TRUMP elected US president, then sanctions on Russia would be lifted.” 

— Memo 134, dated Oct. 18, 2016

The Mueller report does not confirm a meeting between Page, then a low-level campaign adviser, and the president of Rosneft. But Mueller did document a meeting between Page and a lower-level Rosneft official. The meeting included discussion of a possible sale of part of Rosneft, though apparently not in the context of a reward for lifting sanctions.

“Page said that, during his time in Moscow, he met with friends and associates he knew from when he lived in Russia, including Andrey Baranov, a former Gazprom employee who had become the head of investor relations at Rosneft, a Russian energy company,” the Mueller report said. “Page stated that he and Baranov talked about ‘immaterial non-public’ information. Page believed he and Baranov discussed Rosneft president Igor Sechin, and he thought Baranov might have mentioned the possibility of a sale of a stake in Rosneft in passing.”

The report stated that Page shook hands with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, who made statements to Page about working together in the future. Page wrote a memo to the campaign that Dvorkovich “expressed strong support for Mr. Trump,” as did other senior members of the Putin administration. But the report added: “The Office was unable to obtain additional evidence or testimony about who Page may have met or communicated with in Moscow; thus, Page’s activities in Russia — as described in his emails with the Campaign — were not fully explained.”

 

“Top level Russian official confirms current closeness of Alpha Group-PUTIN relationship. Significant favors continue to be done in both directions... and [Petr] AVEN still giving informal advice to PUTIN, especially on US.” 

— Memo 112, Sept. 14, 2016

This memo gets the essence of the relationship between Putin and Russia’s largest commercial bank correct. (The Cyrillic name can be translated as Alfa or Alpha in Latin script; the bank itself prefers Alfa.)

“Aven told the Office that he is one of approximately 50 wealthy Russian businessmen who regularly meet with Putin in the Kremlin; these 50 men are often referred to as ‘oligarchs,’ ” the Mueller report said. “Aven told the Office that he met on a quarterly basis with Putin, including in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2016, shortly after the U.S. presidential election.” The report recounts how, at Putin’s direction, Aven sought to make contacts with the Trump transition team.

 

“Two knowledgeable St Petersburg sources claim Republican candidate TRUMP has paid bribes and engaged in sexual activities there but key witnesses silenced and evidence hard to obtain.” 

— Memo 113, dated Sept. 14, 2016

The Mueller report does not describe any bribes paid by Trump. There is no indication Mueller investigated this allegation.

 

"The Kremlin had more intelligence on CLINTON and her campaign but he did not know the details or when or if it would be released.” 

— Memo 96, dated July 30, 2016 

“Russians do have further kompromat on CLINTON (e-mails) and considering disseminating it after Duma (legislative elections) in late September.” 

— Memo 111, dated Sept. 14, 2016

These two memos accurately reported more Russian-obtained dirt on Clinton was coming.

On Oct. 7, The Post disclosed the “Access Hollywood” tape in which Trump had a lewd conversation about women, in what was considered a major setback for his campaign. “Less than an hour after the video’s publication, WikiLeaks released the first set of emails stolen by the GRU [Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Army] from the account of Clinton Campaign chairman John Podesta,” the Mueller report said. Mueller noted that thousands of Podesta emails had been stolen in late March. That means the Russians had held on to the material for nearly six months.

The report says that “metadata collected from the WikiLeaks site revealed that the stolen Podesta emails show a creation date of September 19, 2016,” indicating that is when it was transferred from the GRU to WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks released more than 50,000 Podesta documents in the month before the U.S. election.

 

“Kremlin insider reports TRUMP lawyer COHEN’s secret meeting/s with Kremlin officials in August 2016 was/were held in Prague.” 

— Memo 136, dated Oct. 20, 2016

The Mueller report suggests no such meeting in Prague took place, even though three of the Steele memos discuss this alleged meeting in detail.

One of the memos, dated Dec. 13, stated that Cohen was accompanied in Prague by three colleagues with an agenda of processing “deniable” cash payments to operatives, including hackers, and contingency plans to cover up the operations. Another memo, dated Oct. 19, described Cohen as a “secret liaison with Russian leadership,” a role that had supposedly grown with the departure of Manafort from the campaign.

Mueller does not indicate he investigated whether Cohen traveled to Prague; he simply dismisses the incident in Cohen’s own words as he discusses Cohen’s preparation for testimony before Congress.

”At that time [May 2017], Cohen understood Congress’s interest in him to be focused on the allegations in the Steele reporting concerning a meeting Cohen allegedly had with Russian officials in Prague during the campaign,” the report said. “Cohen had never traveled to Prague and was not concerned about those allegations, which he believed were provably false.”

The only listed source for this information is a “302,” code for an FBI summary of an interview with Cohen. He has not been consistent on whether he has ever been to Prague, telling the Wall Street Journal he had not been there since 2001, telling Mother Jones in 2016 he had been there for one afternoon 14 years earlier and reiterating on Twitter and to Congress he has never been there.

Cohen has been cooperating with the investigation after pleading guilty to criminal charges, including lying to Congress. So, facing a prison term, Cohen presumably would reveal such a meeting if it had occurred.

The Mueller report documents Trump Organization discussions about Cohen’s taking a trip to Moscow in 2016 to advance the Trump Tower Moscow project. But that trip never took place. Trump had signed a letter of intent in November 2015, as he was campaigning for the presidency.

Ohhh. you're in trouble now.  

[suddenly shaggy 929]

2 minutes ago, Crusher said:

Ohhh. you're in trouble now.  

Not going to read it this time either, huh? Good plan. That way you can ask questions you'll ignore the answers to all over again tomorrow. 

[hobbes2702 13,032]

[Crusher 127]

5 minutes ago, suddenly shaggy said:

Not going to read it this time either, huh? Good plan. That way you can ask questions you'll ignore the answers to all over again tomorrow. 

No,  I'm gonna trust Barr and the whole DOJ that says there is no evidence of collusion. And from that I will assume that Trump is not a agent of Russia.

Also, since  I believe the whole thing was a political hack job I will go with the AG assessment that the President has the right fire any one he wants under Article 2 of the Constitution .

Since Trump is President and has the right to select his own choice of an Attorney General ... He is perfectly within his rights so far.

I don't remember anyone being upset when JFK selected his little brother as his AG. 

But they were dems.… Elections have consequences.

[Tom 2,959]

9 minutes ago, Crusher said:

No,  I'm gonna trust Barr and the whole DOJ that says there is no evidence of collusion. And from that I will assume that Trump is not a agent of Russia.

Also, since  I believe the whole thing was a political hack job I will go with the AG assessment that the President has the right fire any one he wants under Article 2 of the Constitution .

Since Trump is President and has the right to select his own choice of an Attorney General ... He is perfectly within his rights so far.

I don't remember anyone being upset when JFK selected his little brother as his AG. 

But they were dems.… Elections have consequences.

 

So what you're saying is that you basically don't believe in presidencies.  You believe in Kings.  Nevermind silly things like checks and balances.

It's amazing Bill Clinton was ever impeached.  Nobody told him all he had to do was fire everyone ever investigating him.

You're putting your trust in Bill Barr, the guy who assisted in pardoning the criminals behind Iran-Contra and auditioned for his job for AG by writing a memo basically saying the POTUS is beyond reproach.  I hope you enjoy the precedent your ilk is setting when it comes back to bite you in your myopic asses. 

 

[hobbes2702 13,032]

So you lied about the Steele dossier being proven fake, then you asked for evidence to backup the claim that is wasn’t fake, you were presented with evidence that it’s not fake at which point you change the subject entirely to Trump being a Russian agent which was not even part of the discussion. And in that entire thing you didn’t read any of the evidence that you or others posted to support their claims.

How fucking stupid are you?

[hobbes2702 13,032]

1 minute ago, Tom said:

 

So what you're saying is that you basically don't believe in presidencies.  You believe in Kings.  Nevermind silly things like checks and balances.

It's amazing Bill Clinton was ever impeached.  Nobody told him all he had to do was fire everyone ever investigating him.

You're putting your trust in Bill Barr, the guy who assisted in pardoning the criminals behind Iran-Contra and auditioned for his job for AG by writing a memo basically saying the POTUS is beyond reproach.  I hope you enjoy the precedent your ilk is setting when it comes back to bite you in your myopic asses. 

 

Don’t let him move the goalposts.

[Crusher 127]

1 minute ago, Tom said:

 

So what you're saying is that you basically don't believe in presidencies.  You believe in Kings.  Nevermind silly things like checks and balances.

It's amazing Bill Clinton was ever impeached.  Nobody told him all he had to do was fire everyone ever investigating him.

You're putting your trust in Bill Barr, the guy who assisted in pardoning the criminals behind Iran-Contra and auditioned for his job for AG by writing a memo basically saying the POTUS is beyond reproach.  I hope you enjoy the precedent your ilk is setting when it comes back to bite you in your myopic asses. 

 

Never said anything in the like. Your just an idiot if that is what you have gleaned from posts tonight.

Yep. I will take Bill Barr and Trump over Obama and Holder and the Fast and Furious. At least Trump hasn't managed to get one of own Border Patrol Agents killed by one of his own guns???!!

[hobbes2702 13,032]

Obfuscate more.

[Crusher 127]

2 minutes ago, hobbes2702 said:

Obfuscate more.

I didn't bring up the past... Tom Did..

[Tom 2,959]

12 minutes ago, Crusher said:

Never said anything in the like. Your just an idiot if that is what you have gleaned from posts tonight.

Yep. I will take Bill Barr and Trump over Obama and Holder and the Fast and Furious. At least Trump hasn't managed to get one of own Border Patrol Agents killed by one of his own guns???!!

I think Jimmyjazz has gone to bed, but it's still "you're."  And of course you will.  You will take Bill Barr, the guy who defended Republicans funding terrorists through drug traffickers, as well as Trump who allows and embraces Russian interference into American democratic elections while trusting their intelligence over our own.

This difference is I will actually admit that Obama was flawed as a president and made mistakes.  The difference between Obama's mistakes and Trump's is that Obama's mistakes actually had good intentions whereas Trump's motivations are completely self-serving and have further reaching consequences down the line.  Trump, himself, hired Bolton and Pompeo.  How many thousands of needless American deaths do you think they're responsible for compared to Fast and Furious?

[Crusher 127]

Real question.

How has your life changed since Trump took the office of the President.

 

[Crusher 127]

2 minutes ago, Crusher said:

Real question.

How has your life changed since Trump took the office of the President?

 

 

[Crusher 127]

These attacks aren’t about special counsel Robert Mueller, his report or even the surreal debate over Mr. Barr’s first letter describing the report. The attorney general delivered the transparency Democrats demanded: He quickly released a lightly redacted report, which portrayed the president in a negative light. What do Democrats have to object to?

[Tom 2,959]

30 minutes ago, Crusher said:

Real question.

How has your life changed since Trump took the office of the President.

 

 

27 minutes ago, Crusher said:

 

 

Real answer:  My blood pressure has spiked about 15 to 20 points.  But I'm a middle class straight white male whose ancestors have been on this continent since before it was an independent country.  Most of Trump's bullshit doesn't affect me.

Long term problems with Trump:

* His economic accomplishments are built entirely on debt.  We're running Obama level deficits, yet unlike then we're not in the midst of a recession.  When the economy eventually stalls again as it always does, there will be nothing in the tank.

* We're a joke to the world.  Not a single decent world leader respects Trump.  None.  American hegemony over the western world has weakened under Trump's watch and most of our allies no longer trust us.  Putin and Kim Jong Un respect Trump more than Macron or Trudeau.  

* We're paying welfare to farmers for a needless trade war built entirely on Trump's ego.

* He's challenging executive authority at an unprecedented rate.  His policy is basically "let's just do it, challenge the courts, and see what they come back with."

* He actively embraces every anti-environmental policy he can support.  This doesn't affect me, but my grandchildren.  Sorry if you don't believe in climate change.  Every person who is qualified disagrees.

* He fills every federal agency position with sycophants, donors, and people who aren't qualified for the job, completely undermining the federal government.

* He spends most of his time watching cable news, tweeting, or golfing, meaning he's ignoring his responsibilities he was elected for.  This may or may not be a good thing.  I haven't decided yet.

Edited May 4, 2019 by Tom

[Tom 2,959]

7 minutes ago, Tom said:

 

 

Real answer:  My blood pressure has spiked about 15 to 20 points.  But I'm a middle class straight white male whose ancestors have been on this continent since before it was an independent country.  Most of Trump's bullshit doesn't affect me.

Long term problems with Trump:

* His economic accomplishments are built entirely on debt.  We're running Obama level deficits, yet unlike then we're not in the midst of a recession.  When the economy eventually stalls again as it always does, there will be nothing in the tank.

* We're a joke to the world.  Not a single decent world leader respects Trump.  None.  American hegemony over the western world has weakened under Trump's watch and most of our allies no longer trust us.  Putin and Kim Jong Un respect Trump more than Macron or Trudeau.  

* We're paying welfare to farmers for a needless trade war built entirely on Trump's ego.

* He's challenging executive authority at an unprecedented rate.  His policy is basically "let's just do it, challenge the courts, and see what they come back with."

* He actively embraces every anti-environmental policy he can support.  This doesn't affect me, but my grandchildren.  Sorry if you don't believe in climate change.  Every person who is qualified disagrees.

* He fills every federal agency position with sycophants, donors, and people who aren't qualified for the job, completely undermining the federal government.

* He spends most of his time watching cable news, tweeting, or golfing, meaning he's ignoring his responsibilities he was elected for.  This may or may not be a good thing.  I haven't decided yet.

 

I apologize.  I didn't listen to @hobbes2702 and allowed you to move the goalposts.  We're not in the Donald Trump thread. We're in the Robert Mueller investigation thread, and that investigation did not exonerate Donald Trump to anyone that read the report.  So please ignore my previous response.

[Crusher 127]

49 minutes ago, Tom said:

50 minutes ago, Tom said:

 

 

Real answer:  My blood pressure has spiked about 15 to 20 points.  But I'm a middle class straight white male whose ancestors have been on this continent since before it was an independent country.  Most of Trump's bullshit doesn't affect me. 

Long term problems with Trump:

* His economic accomplishments are built entirely on debt.  We're running Obama level deficits, yet unlike then we're not in the midst of a recession.  When the economy eventually stalls again as it always does, there will be nothing in the tank.

* We're a joke to the world.  Not a single decent world leader respects Trump.  None.  American hegemony over the western world has weakened under Trump's watch and most of our allies no longer trust us.  Putin and Kim Jong Un respect Trump more than Macron or Trudeau.  

* We're paying welfare to farmers for a needless trade war built entirely on Trump's ego.

* He's challenging executive authority at an unprecedented rate.  His policy is basically "let's just do it, challenge the courts, and see what they come back with."

* He actively embraces every anti-environmental policy he can support.  This doesn't affect me, but my grandchildren.  Sorry if you don't believe in climate change.  Every person who is qualified disagrees.

* He fills every federal agency position with sycophants, donors, and people who aren't qualified for the job, completely undermining the federal government.

* He spends most of his time watching cable news, tweeting, or golfing, meaning he's ignoring his responsibilities he was elected for.  This may or may not be a good thing.  I haven't decided yet.

 

Man you are awesome!!! 

[Patron 230]

Crusher, there is no way you could comprehend what Tom is explaining to you. 

[EastTexan 662]

On May 3, 2019 at 7:26 AM, bolverk said:

Username to aggy ratio is very high.

You be wrong my freind. Damn sure not aggy. East Texas covers a large area if you're not aware. 

[EastTexan 662]

23 hours ago, Asithappens said:

Well, if Laura says it then it must be true.

Naw. I'd rather believe, the mile long list of cnn, msnbc, abc, nbc "reporters" (sure I missed some). Hell they've had it nailed spot on for nearly three years.

[EastTexan 662]

23 hours ago, WhatTheBuck said:

Fuck Venezuela. Trump is an existential threat to American democracy. Venezuela can fall into the ocean as far as I'm concerned. Trump is doing damage to my country!

 

Some people are never happy.

[TexEx15 17,509]

10 hours ago, Crusher said:

You don't have to be highly educated to know when your being fed bullshit. Actually the less educated have better bullshit detector

Having a hard time reconciling this with people whom support Trump.  Trump is the king of bullshit.

[WhatTheBuck 28,776]

7 minutes ago, EastTexan said:

Some people are never happy.

 

 

[EastTexan 662]

20 hours ago, BradInATX said:

Can you imagine how upset people like American Swindle would be if Russia meddled in an election that a Democrat won while openly soliciting their interference, then refused to even admit that they interfered. Can you imagine the flag-draped outrage if Obama took Russia's side over our very own FBI?

You can't talk to these people. Their entire belief system is built on ignorance and cognitive dissonance. There is no intellectual honesty. Everything is horrible until my side does it. Stop trying. You are never going to get an honest and open debate from them. They revel in their own intellectual filth. They wear it with pride.

Only 9 reps. Come guys, you can do better than that.

[texas08 1,599]

The troll farms are active again. In perfect sync w Dotards phone call with his daddy.

[EastTexan 662]

17 hours ago, VRHorn said:

Yeah, Tito'sTom, you don't get to make up your own facts. The version available is still redacted. The Dems are "boycotting" it until they can see the full report and underlying evidence.

Well then fuck. They are going to be crying for what, three more years, thirty years? 

[bolverk 29,660]

46 minutes ago, EastTexan said:

You be wrong my freind. Damn sure not aggy. East Texas covers a large area if you're not aware. 

From my experience, stupidity, mendacity, and obstinacy are characteristics of the Old South and aggy mindsets. Your posting history and claim of East Texas appear to align very well in terms of intelligence, psychology, and geography.

[bolverk 29,660]

@Anastasis

I acknowledge that you've stated multiple times Trump can and should be impeached on charges of obstruction of justice and because of his behavior at Helsinki. You have not, so far as I can recollect, agreed with Mueller's assessment that the Trump campaign desired, requested, expected, and received Kremlin assistance. Once you do that, I'll stahp haranguing you about it. It'll be finished.

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13,581]

8 hours ago, Crusher said:

No,  I'm gonna trust Barr 

Who just days ago in the Senate hearings admitted he didn't look at the underlying evidence in the myriad of obstruction instances/potential obstruction instances in the Mueller Report. 

[EastTexan 662]

24 minutes ago, bolverk said:

From my experience, stupidity, mendacity, and obstinacy are characteristics of the Old South and aggy mindsets. Your posting history and claim of East Texas appear to align very well in terms of intelligence, psychology, and geography.

So you're from the left coast?

[bolverk 29,660]

4 minutes ago, EastTexan said:

So you're from the left coast?

I was conceived in a field outside of Houston, born in Dallas, raised in West Texas, and have lived in Austin since '96 when I came down here for grad school.

[EastTexan 662]

1 minute ago, bolverk said:

I was conceived in a field outside of Houston, born in Dallas, raised in West Texas, and have lived in Austin since '96 when I came down here for grad school.

Good for you. Glad things are going well.

[bolverk 29,660]

2 minutes ago, EastTexan said:

Good for you. Glad things are going well.

Living the dream.

[David Dennison 18,854]

1 hour ago, EastTexan said:

Well then fuck. They are going to be crying for what, three more years, thirty years? 

Until it becomes politically untenable for DOJ to keep covering it up or until the next Democratic administration takes over, whichever comes first.

Or until it leaks.

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13,581]

7 hours ago, Crusher said:

Real question.

How has your life changed since Trump took the office of the President.

 

This is an almost perfect illustration of why this country is going to go to shit- judging government policy or events almost exclusively on how it affects one personally. Anecdotes are Exhibit A and the best, most labored-over data available comes a distant second or is lazily dismissed as fake or inconsequential, if it's considered at all ("MY insurance premiums went up after Obamacare was passed!"- as if they weren't before, as if you bothered to look for cheaper plans in the ACA marketplace, as if you now can't afford taking your skiing vacation...)

 

But! Since you asked...

Two of the dairies my company used to pick up from went belly up

I was denied a raise I requested

The hill country roads I travel are clogged with turtle-speed oversized loads transporting oil and pipeline equipment west while being torn all to fuck

I have to worry about the Kinder Morgan pipeline planned route through the area I planned to call home until the day I died, and over the aquifer that supplies me with water as well as the local springs, streams and rivers, so that fossil fuels can be exported out of the country for private profit.

[Hugo Stiglitz 23,367]

There’s so much obstruction.  Mueller probably narrowed it down to the top 10 episodes just because anything more would have been overkill when only one real point needed to be made.