Trump tweets about Russia probe spark warnings from lawmakers

I'm beginning to think Trump is not intentionally foolish, but that he is genuinely stupid.

Gee. Who has more credibility? Comey or Trump.

...let me think....LOL!

and why did the president wait until just now to insist that he didn't ask Comey to stop investigating Flynn? Why wouldn't he have done that at the time if it was a lie?

The orange nose grows longer and longer by the day. Oh to have a real president....

Sounds like Trump found a fall guy for his stupid tweet.

If Mueller causes Trump any trouble he can always fire him.

That would clearly result in all Trump's problems going away. It wouldn't make Trump look like he was hiding anything.

Biased Mueller and his democratic supporting team of liberal lawyers are doing a terrible job investigating things. There have only been two guilty please and two indictments handed down. I expect more given it's been so long and they've used so much money.

That's why democrats have lost over 1,000 legislative seats.

What about Clinton? Where has Tony Podesta gone?

The democrats are being racist towards Conyers. Moore is an alleged kiddie fiddler. Why did the alleged victims wait so long to make their claims?

Did I get most of the trite, irrelevant excuses we'll be hearing from our resident CONS-ervatives? (Get it? I'm so clever. See, if I capitalize the first three letters, it spells "cons!")

Burning BushToday  07:12 am JST

If Mueller causes Trump any trouble he can always fire him.

Carry on.

How authoritarian.

@rBush If Mueller causes Trump any trouble he can always fire him.

The Russian way? I'm sure this appeals to people who want an authoritarian regime. The US still has a system of checks and balances to keep the executive from turning into a full-on autocrat, but given the way Trump and his supporters continue to undermine democratic processes, who knows how long that will last. Trump, Inc. are trying to blow up the American system for their own personal gains.

Trump: the buck stops somewhere else, but the bucks stay in his family. Has he shown his tax info?

Trump, Inc. are trying to blow up the American system for their own personal gains.

That's right. Give the finger to the establishment so we can get things done in a way that benefits real people. You know, like the middle class that will see tax increases in 2026.

The current tax code is too arduous, so is eroding the workforce and middle class. We have to reduce the corporate tax rate so businesses will create more jobs. Yet, somehow, the economy and markets are doing phenomenal, and so is consumer confidence.

Trump cannot fire Mueller.

Only the deputy attorney general who appointed him can fire him. The attorney general recused himself from the investigation.

Trump can tell the deputy attorney general to fire Meuller, but the deputy attorney general can refuse. He must have good reason to fire Meuller.

These rules were created by the Republicans after the Kenneth Starr investigation of Clinton to prevent this exact situation.

Tweeting about this probe is definitely ill advised....and actually quite stupid. His impulsiveness may be his undoing.

base must be sick of his bs my now

I don't think so. Most who favor being governed by an authoritarian will accept whatever he says and whatever actions takes. They're unable to criticize him for fear of being outed from their herd. A true believer's principles, values and ethics are less important than faith in their leader. “Faith: the purposeful suspension of critical thinking.”

You'd think our species would have learnt the dangers of blindly following a leader by now, but with Putin, Erdogan, Netanyahu, Duterte etal gaining in popularity, I have to wonder.

I actually hope Trump tweets more and more on the investigation. Who knows how far the moron might go to incriminate himself

Has Trump ever heard of the separation of powers in a liberal democracy?? evidently not....

Unhinged. Lost his marbles. Not there. Fruitcake. Alzheimer's. Dementia. Paranoid. Egoistic. Moronic. Racist. Going to be locked up. Take your pick.

Now sit back and watch the rhetoric stuff coming from his supporters 3-2-1.

Correct: attempted rhetoric

Trump's attorney, John Dowd, said in an interview with Reuters that he had drafted the tweet and said putting it together had been a "mistake."

"I’ll take responsibility," Dowd said.

There are a few conclusions to be drawn from this. First, Trump clearly surrounds himself with absolutely useless people. Second, it pops the balloon of this myth that he uses Twitter to talk directly to the masses - it could be anyone writing those things but he's passing them off as his own like a shameless fraud. Third, the person whose Twitter account this is presumably allowed Dowd to write the message and should take responsibility himself.

Tommy JonesToday  07:30 am JST

Did I get most of the trite, irrelevant excuses we'll be hearing from our resident CONS-ervatives? 

How about "PC is out of control," "I love how Trump (or "the man") takes on the Washington establishment" and "the liberal left and the MSM will twist, exaggerate or make up anything to bring Trump down?" You need a "kudos!" and a few "ROFLs" as well.

Trump's attorney, John Dowd, said in an interview with Reuters that he had drafted the tweet and said putting it together had been a "mistake."

"I’ll take responsibility," Dowd said.

A lawyer should know:

"Anything you say may be used against you in a court of law."

I'd like to see Trump's lawyer asked if he wrote that tweet in a court of law.

How about "PC is out of control," "I love how Trump (or "the man") takes on the Washington establishment" and "the liberal left and the MSM will twist, exaggerate or make up anything to bring Trump down?" You need a "kudos!" and a few "ROFLs" as well

I knew I had missed a few . Appreciate the assist.

Popodopolus lied to the FBI about contacts with Russia and pleaded guilty. He met with Russians to discuss access to hack Democrat emails that could help Trump's campaign.

AG Sessions lied to the Senate and American about contacts with Russia.

Spicer lied to the American public about Trump campaign contacts with Russia.

Flynn lied to the FBI about contacts with Russia and pleaded guilty.

Don Jr and Kushner lied about contacts with Russian. They met with Russians to discuss access to hacked emails that could help Trump's campaign. Trump drafts the initial lie about the purpose meeting until the news catches them in a number of lies.

Don Jr. lies about contacts with WIkileaks until he is caught in the lie.

Sally Yates to the WH that Flynn lied to the VP and the WH. She sidestepped the question as to whether she told the WH about Flynn lying to the FBI, but she would have informed the WH. Later, Trump tries to obstruct the investigation into Flynn, and Flynn is only fired after it was obvious Comey wasn't backing down.

Now, Trump's attorney says he wrote the Tweet providing evidence of Trump guilt of obstruction. We can only rationally conclude this is another lie to protect Trump.

I want to see Trump and all of his cohorts subject to grand jury testimony about what they knew and when.

The common thread is that everyone in the Trump administration and transition team lie about Russian contacts.

If Trump knew Flynn lied to the FBI, then Trump should be impeached for obstruction. Fat chance given the GoP enablers. At least Nixon was a smart criminal.

My predeiction for 2018: Trump will pardon everybody (including himself), resign as president due to Mueller's Russia investigation and move on from there to create a new TV talk show on Fox with himself starring as the main host.

My predeiction for 2018: Trump will pardon everybody (including himself), resign as president due to Mueller's Russia investigation and move on from there to create a new TV talk show on Fox with himself starring as the main host.

A couple of problems with pardons depending on the timing.

1: A president can't pardon someone impeached, so no to Pence or Trump. I wonder if Sessions could be impeached??? 2: If Trump pardons someone, they have no fifth amendment right against self-incrimination. So, they will have to answer all questions in court, even those that questions that would otherwise incriminate themselves. That evidence could lead to criminal charges against others, to include the president.

'"I’ll take responsibility,” he said. “I’m sorry I misled people.”'

So, Dowd snuck into Trump's bedroom at 2:40 a.m. and sent the tweet at Trump's favorite tweeting time, then snuck out and allowed Trump to keep tweeting later. Or did he just hijack the President's twitter feed at the same time as Trump always likes to tweet, and does Trump as such have no access to his own voice?

Now John Dowd (Trump's attorney) is saying that Trump knew that Flynn probably lied to the FBI when Sally Yates reported the issue to the WH. She was fired two days later.

So, Trump knew Flynn lied to the FBI several weeks before he asked/told Comey to not prosecute Flynn.

Trump and his attorneys are taking a position that a dementia riddled Trump is more believable than bible quoting boy scout Comey. Trump says the conversation never happened, and Comey made contemporaneous notes immediately after the conversation because he didn't trust Trump to tell the truth. Who to believe?

Obstruction is the obvious conclusion except for the blind GoP and blind Trump followers.

Comey made contemporaneous notes immediately after the conversation because he didn't trust Trump to tell the truth

How do contemporaneous notes help? It's not as if those would be useful to refresh A present recollection.

How do contemporaneous notes help? It's not as if those would be useful to refresh A present recollection.

Is this just a silly question trying to obfuscate away from the obvious.

That is, Comey is a pathological truth teller, and Trump is a pathological liar.

Contemporaneous notes substantiate events because they were written at the time of the event and are less subject to bias than memory. The credibility of the notes depend on the detail of the notes and the ability of the writer.

Comey has a professional and pathological history of producing these types of notes. Lordy, his notes are highly credible and so is he.

Trump is not credible in anything he says or writes, unless the expectation of a lie is credible in itself.

Comey's notes were used to counter assertions of dramatic events in the past when others tried to obfuscate away the truth. Need I remind you of the event where others more trustworthy than Trump questioned Comey's version of events and lost?

It's funny, I thought some of Trump's adoring fans would have sprung to his defence by now. Perhaps they're having a hard time coming to terms with Trump either writing this Tweet himself and getting Dowd to take the fall for it, him apparently not even bothering to check and approve what is written in his own Twitter feed or in either case not having a clue just what a stupid thing it was to write.

Viking:

I am aware of the benefits of contemporaneous notes to a witness. We went through the same drudge to learn those benefits. You graduated in 97.

It's funny, I thought some of Trump's adoring fans would have sprung to his defence by now. 

Agreed. The notable absence of our resident Trumpophiles is rather odd. Perhaps they're waiting for their talking points from Fox, Brietbart, etc.

It's funny, I thought some of Trump's adoring fans would have sprung to his defence by now. 

I fear they may be sick.

I expected at least a Dowd is just a volunteer coffee boy who no one knows comment.

More to the truth would be Dowd is in over his head, or he was hired to be the attorney fall guy for just this kind of Trump tweet. They will need to hire another Dowd for Trump's next public admission of guilt on twitter.

Meanwhile, you have Nunes (the congressional Trump nutter) threatening the DOJ and FBI with contempt for not providing information that he was given access to but declined to access. Everyone else accessed the information. Just another, look at the shiny object... common with the Trump group.

For Trumps cult, this doesn't change anything. As I have said before, Trump was a 100% correct when he said he could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot someone and not lose a single vote. Trump (and the rest of us) knew he was correct. His cult would find a way to rationalize it post-act, like that person deserved to be shot, etc.

Its the same with this investigation. Trump could come out tomorrow and say "Yes I and my team colluded with the Russians and I personally sanctioned it", and his base would still cheer him. His cult would rationalize it, saying things "Poor thing, he had no choice but to commit treason to make America great again and drain the swamp, and the Dems are worse and we would rather have a traitor who is a Republican than a Dem/lib in the WH".

Each and every day, facts seem to matter less and less, and we have the Dear Leader in the WH to blame for that. Hopefully, this farce will soon be ended by Mueller.

Nope, its on the other thread, here you go. I said it has been known for over a year that Trump doesnt write/send all his own tweets. I was asked to prove it and here it is.

its easy enough to Google, here's the first one I found.

https://www.wired.com/story/tell-when-someone-else-tweets-from-realdonaldtrump/

*we have to look for other ways to figure out when the tweets come straight from Trump. This proved particularly challenging during version one of the Trump administration, when press secretary Sean Spicer, chief of staff Reince Priebus, and alt-right interpreter Steve Bannon all had yet to be ousted. *Along with advisor Kellyanne Conway, they all likely took a spin on Trump's Twitter account at some point.

Now, though, with Trump's more trusted advisors working on the outside and White House chief of staff John Kelly trying to minimize chaos, we can have relative confidence that each Trump tweet goes one of two ways: Either he wrote it, or caddy-turned-White-House-social-media director Dan Scavino did.

Scavino and Trump likely aren't the only people with direct access to the @realDonaldTrump Twitter account. 

So now I guess we add John Dowd to that list.

Other than that, the lawmakers are only Lindsay Graham and Diane Feinstein. I dont care about either of their opinions as one lost to Trump with less than 1% of the vote and the other is a Democrat whose candidate also lost.

The current tax code is too arduous, so is eroding the workforce and middle class. We have to reduce the corporate tax rate so businesses will create more jobs. Yet, somehow, the economy and markets are doing phenomenal, and so is consumer confidence.

The Democrats had 8 years to simplify the tax code and they didn’t, they had 8 years to create jobs in the private sector, they didn't, they had 8 years to loosen regulations, focus on the middle class and they did none of it.

The Democrats had 8 years to simplify the tax code and they didn’t, they had 8 years to create jobs in the private sector, they didn't, they had 8 years to loosen regulations, focus on the middle class and they did none of it.

As always, another what about argument. As if, the Republicans have no blame for the laws not passed.

Now that the GoP have won the presidency by the smallest of margins, they are doing their best to marginalize the working class and pass huge benefits for the wealthy.

Next stop, cutting entitlements, like medicare and social security to balance the budget. If you are old and poor, get ready to live off of cat food. If you are wealthy, you can still get your unneeded benefits.

America, the land of the plutocrats.

Yeah there is just nothing I can do sometimes when this stuff gets so out of control in ridiculousness while I am working.

Have people here who will accept any speculation, any anonymous source, any 'someone said something somewhere sometime'. As long as its anti-Trump and spoken or written, its true. Impeach Trump!

But anything when there are actual sources, with names and faces, with high level positions, who speak and prove things that liberals already know (Trump doesnt send all his tweets). Total liars, cant trust this at all.

Melania wont to move to the White House! Melania; Yes, I will Trump: Yes she will. Melania moves. Liberals: But she doesnt want to be in the White House! Melania herself: Yes I do. Liberals: Liar!

Tillerson will be fired! Tillerson: Nope! Trump: Nope! Liberals: He will be fired......next time!

Point is that this one tweet means nothing. Moving on to discuss the contents of all the other tweets that people are trying to distract from by attacking this one.

BlacklabelToday  05:21 pm JST

Point is that this one tweet means nothing. Moving on to discuss the contents of all the other tweets that people are trying to distract from by attacking this one.

Then discuss them elsewhere. No one else is interested. Only this one tweet is mentioned in the article this thread accompanies, so any other tweets are irrelevant.

So what do you think is going to happen to Flynn? You think he can avoid prison time? And where do you think this investigation will go besides in the toilet?

Hey, as long as we are sticking to the topic, what do you think is going to happen to Podesta? You think he can avoid a hassle? Are some puffed up congress critters going to jabber at him for a while and make him late for a round of golf with the president?

Interesting no one has commented on the possibility that the tweet contained true information - that, in fact, Trump was aware that Flynn had lied to the FBI yet nonetheless pressured Comey to lay off the investigation and then fired him when he didn't.

Maybe it was a mistweet. If it is not, this is game over.

Interesting no one has commented on the possibility that the tweet contained true information - that, in fact, Trump was aware that Flynn had lied to the FBI

He was? You do know if he can’t recall or if he doesn’t realize doesn’t make it a lie.

yet nonetheless pressured Comey to lay off the investigation and then fired him when he didn't.

Firing Comey was the best thing he did this year. You guys talk about the Presidency being reduced to a joke, the FBI is the joke of all jokes and the top officials are corrupt to the bone.

Maybe it was a mistweet. If it is not, this is game over.

For Flynn? Could be.

When did this supposed corruption begin? Any evidence, or we just have to take your word?

No, do we have to take the word of Comey? Mueller? For that matter Flynn or Manafort? As I have said more than a hundred times, this is not emotional or visceral for me. I don’t trust none of these people and I believe they will all say anything to justify their cause, make excuses for their coverups or blame one another and make any deal possible.

Hmm. According to Axios, Trump's lawyer and alleged author of the tweet recently wrote:

The "President cannot obstruct justice because he is the chief law enforcement officer under [the Constitution's Article II] and has every right to express his view of any case," Dowd claims.

That is highly debatable, particularly when a president's actions are at question, not his statements. Also, an obstruction of justice charge would likely be simply ancillary to further, far more serious charge(s), so it could be tossed without prejudicing the other(s).

Anyway, perhaps this answers the origin of the boneheaded Trump tweet - that Trump had talked with Dowd, got that idea in his head, and immediately regurgitated it. Idiot.

Alan Derschowitz was just on TV and said obstruction of justice against Trump is nonsense. The President is within his Constitutional rights to fire who he wants and to direct his own DOJ to either investigate (or not investigate) anyone. He can also go to Congress and ask them to finish up this Russia investigation and they have the right to say no. But its not obstruction for him to ask either Congress or his FBI Director to do something, they have the right to refuse. Trump also could have pardoned Flynn, no problem. The fact that he didnt shows he isnt obstructing anything.

Basically to have obstruction there has to be some illegal act associated with it. Derschowitz says there is no illegal act to date. Even when George Bush pardoned Caspar Weinberger to stop the investigation into himself, that wasnt obstuction, its his power under the Constitution. I believe this to be true, because no one ever brought up 'but he obstructed justice!' for Bush.

Standing by for the 'but Derschowitz doesnt know what he is talking about' comments.

True, Black. Lemme just copy-paste this:

 The Federal Election Campaign Act states in unambiguous terms that any contribution by a foreign national to the campaign of an American candidate for any election, state or national, is illegal. 

If there was coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign, and if the material Russia most definitely pumped out is defined as a contribution in kind, then Trump's got problems exceeding obstruction of justice (which could then well be viewed as the quid to the quo.

At any rate, impeachement is a political, not legal, process. The GOP will at some point have to decide if the damage they occur from sheltering an increasingly embarrassing president is worth it (that is, assuming the Dems don't take the House).

Seems everyone's favorite President watched the interview too and liked it as much as I did,just tweeted about it.

Ok so it was collusion. then it was obstruction of justice. now its illegal contributions to a campaign by foreigners?

Then it was impeachment is guaranteed, then maybe we removed him for Article 25, now its maybe the GOP will remove him somehow because he is 'embarrasing'?

Man, the goalposts are all over the place. Anything, something just to get rid of Trump. But cant decide what 'it' is.

At any rate, impeachement is a political, not legal, process. The GOP will at some point have to decide if the damage they occur from sheltering an increasingly embarrassing president is worth it (that is, assuming the Dems don't take the House)

I think the President doesn’t have anything to worry about this witch hunt. I think the Dems have bigger problems with trying to come up with message other than the usual Trump hate, bashing spiel. If the Dems want to go impeachment, they’d better think very deeply about the ramifications that come with it. It worked so well last time around.

Ok so it was collusion. then it was obstruction of justice. now its illegal contributions to a campaign by foreigners?

We don't know, Black - could be all of the above, or none. What we do know is that what Flynn knows was terrifying enough for him to cop a plea to a felony and turn on his only benefactor. We also know that Comey, who probably knows more than anyone but Mueller, has been tweeting quite serendipitously recently. It's all in reading the tea leaves, see - the elevator goes up, but how high and to which destination we don't know.

Alan Derschowitz was just on TV and said obstruction of justice against Trump is nonsense.

Then your team is safe and in the clear with nothing to worry about, right?

I believe this to be true

Do you? Your post makes it seem more like you're trying to convince yourself, not us.

If the Dems want to go impeachment, they’d better think very deeply about the ramifications that come with it.

Yeah, punishment of corruption. That's what ALL politicians should face, from either team.

The alternative is letting corruption go unpunished. But if corruption were to go unpunished, it would get a little gross and murky, a little swamp like. And well, if you suddenly have a swamp where you need clean water, what do you do?

You drain. that. swamp.

Wait a second, isn't that what you guys wanted to do?! And now you're threatening the rest of us with the ramifications if we drain the swamp?

No hypocrisy there.

Ok so it was collusion. then it was obstruction of justice. now its illegal contributions to a campaign by foreigners?

Yes, yes and yes. Hell of a deep swamp there. And those are the ones we know of, who knows what Mueller and co. have found that we don't even know about. After all, hardly any of us had heard of Popadopolous before he got arrested.

Anything, something just to get rid of Trump.

Everything to get rid of Trump.

You sound incensed. Maybe your team should have thought about that while screaming birther for eight years.

I think the Dems have bigger problems with trying to come up with message other than the usual Trump hate, bashing spiel.

Nope, that's pretty much our plan for as long as he's president. You know, same as you guys did during the last administration.

And before you go on about losing votes as a result, remember, that was a winning strategy for you guys. It's easy to bash those in power when you have nothing on the line. Harder to bash the opposition when you have all the power. You guys keep trying, and Trump just keeps looking worse and worse. You know, that same strategy you guys used to get in the white house.

Laguna has it right.

It's just a question of how high the poop rolls.

2018 is not far away. Heh. Will Trump make it past the midterms?

There sure are a lot of guilty pleas and indictments for a nothingburger.

Lock them up!! Delicious irony -- yummmmmmmm!

Nope, that's pretty much our plan for as long as he's president. You know, same as you guys did during the last administration.

I completely agree. That’s the way the game is played. And when the next Dem is in power I fully expect the Republicans to carry on and do all they can to screw over that next Dem president. It’s full on war by every means necessary. Too much is on the line for it to be otherwise.

What is the case for collusion? What is the crime?

Trump's people haven't been charged with collusion, just money laundering and lying to the FBI. More to come, probably.

Part of me doesn't want Trump to leave the office of presidency simply because of how amusing this train-wreck is to watch and also because the comedians are having a field day. I haven't had this much fun since Bush was in office, if only Jon Stewart was still doing the daily show and Colbert was still doing the Colbert Report character.

On the other hand I think he is a just a terrible president, he is in a position that is well above his competency and it is showing.

What is the case for collusion? What is the crime?

Are you under the impression that someone here is part of the investigative team, and would have the answers to theses questions?

Everything to get rid of Trump.

Ok, so it’s not about right or wrong, well, at least you’re honest.

You sound incensed. Maybe your team should have thought about that while screaming birther for eight years.

Because of that? The left really needs to grow up otherwise they will never win anymore elections.

There sure are a lot of guilty pleas and indictments for a nothingburger.

Well, Mueller Just fired one of his goons that was anti-Trump and had a key role in the Hillary investigation. Talk about fair and impartial, now we are really seeing that this entire investigation is a ruse, nothing more.

On Nov. 3 last year, Sanders wrote: “When you’re attacking FBI agents because you’re under criminal investigation, you’re losing,”

Or at least, that's what she thought before she sold her soul.

NolivingToday  05:18 am JST

Part of me doesn't want Trump to leave the office of presidency simply because of how amusing this train-wreck is to watch

There is a certain degree of privilege being exposed in being able to laugh at this administration. For many of the innocent Americans' whose lives he is endangering, it's a deadly-serious problem.

There is a certain degree of privilege being exposed in being able to laugh at this administration. For many of the innocent Americans' whose lives he is endangering, it's a deadly-serious problem

What about the lies he is helping?