WaPo: Sessions spoke twice with Russian ambassador during campaign

[EnglishPete]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sessions-spoke-twice-with-russian-ambassador-during-trumps-presidential-campaign-justice-officials-say/2017/03/01/77205eda-feac-11e6-99b4-9e613afeb09f_story.html?pushid=breaking-news_1488420257&tid=notifi_push_breaking-news&utm_term=.bdfafb6a506d


And it continues!

Yep. More fake news from the Washington Post.  I see that all the Trump derangement syndrome sufferers here are eagerly accepting every propaganda line churned out by Jeff Bezos' blog because it feeds into their conspiracy theories.

[EnglishPete]

Lindsey Graham is now saying that Sessions must recuse himself

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Lindsey Graham's boyfriend has a history of links with islamic extremist 'rebels' in Syria and elsewhere but now he's concerned because 'his dear friend' had cause to speak the Russian ambassador in his job in the Senate. STFU

[EnglishPete]

Btw, for those towing the, "It doesn't count because it was in his role as a Senator, and there's no reason to think they discussed the election" line, one of these meetings occurred at a Heritage Foundation event at the Republican National Convention!

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/321930-sessions-spoke-with-russian-ambassador-during-trumps-campaign

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My God! the ambassador of a large country to a more powerful country asked to speak to a senior elected official of the country he was ambassador to? Surely such a thing never normally happens, why would it?

[EnglishPete]

Hold your horses for the next shocking revelation. Sessions is wanting to sell out the US to India!

[EnglishPete]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sessions-spoke-twice-with-russian-ambassador-during-trumps-presidential-campaign-justice-officials-say/2017/03/01/77205eda-feac-11e6-99b4-9e613afeb09f_story.html?pushid=breaking-news_1488420257&tid=notifi_push_breaking-news&utm_term=.bdfafb6a506d


And it continues!

Yep. More fake news from the Washington Post.  I see that all the Trump derangement syndrome sufferers here are eagerly accepting every propaganda line churned out by Jeff Bezos' blog because it feeds into their conspiracy theories.

It would be helpful when you call something fake news for you to specifically state what part of the story you disagree with. Do you deny that he ever talked to the Russian ambassador, or that when they talked it was about something related to the election?

Jeff Bezos' blog has been churning out plenty of fake news stories to attack Trump over the past year and half. If you want to see a good example of how they work watch this video from time 8min 10seconds onwards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B6K7iiV_zk

[EnglishPete]

https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/837307103370952706

[EnglishPete]

If Manchin is saying Sessions should resign, this has legs.

This story does have legs but the reason for that is nothing to do with what Manchin said. The reason is that some time ago the NeverTrumpers and the Democrats decided that they could not tolerate someone from outside the liberal establishment being President and so they're wanting to impeach Trump. Of course much as they'd like to they can't impeach him on grounds of "we don't like his policies" so they had to think of something else. They came up with "Russia hacked the election at the behest of Trump".

They're now churning out every bit of spin, out of context nothing burgers, innuendo and outright bullsh**t in support of this fake narrative and fake news liberal establishment media outlets like the Washington Post are eagerly promoting this nonsense.

[EnglishPete]

The honeymoon lasted less than 24 hours. The Administration is an embarrassment, and we will not be safe from Russian infiltration/blackmail until every member of the Trump Administration is gone.

I am fairly sure that if half of the suspicions about Russia are true, half of the Trump Administration's top staffers and officials will end up (a) squealing on each other (b) fleeing the wreckage of the Administration (c) seeking asylum in Russia.

Good on the Congressional Republicans asking Sessions to recuse out of fear for their political hides.

This has absolutely zero to do with truth and everything to do with politics. Trump's political opponents and their allies in the fake news media have their prewritten impeachment story about 'russia owns Trump, Russia hacked the elections'.

There will be literally zero connection between whether or not this story is true at all and whether or not Trump is impeached on the basis of it. Its all to do with politics

[EnglishPete]

I'm just wondering, had Hillary won and then a Russian scandal such as this emerged about her and her campaign and her post-election administration, how would Republicans feel about and how would they react? Because I can tell you, as a Hillary voter, I would be livid, and could no longer support her or her administration.

This is not just normal politics anymore. Just because someone has an R or a D next to their name doesn't make them more or less guilty of any wrongdoing. One side is clearly in the wrong and there is no way to spin it--even trying to is outright dangerous, unpatriotic, and borderline treasonous.

These kind of bullsh**t stories don't just 'emerge'. Their 'emergence' is scripted and planned and nothing to do with the truth of the matter.

Just to illustrate that this isn't a party political point lets look at the example of Dilma's impeachment in Brazil. I'm no fan of Dilma and I'm not sorry she was kicked out. She's a socialist and socialism is a menace. However I don't believe for a second that she was impeached because those paragons of virtue the Brazilian Congress were persuaded by the evidence that the charges against her were true and merited removal from office. That was just the pretext. The truth has nothing to do with it, its just politics.

[EnglishPete]

The honeymoon lasted less than 24 hours. The Administration is an embarrassment, and we will not be safe from Russian infiltration/blackmail until every member of the Trump Administration is gone.

I am fairly sure that if half of the suspicions about Russia are true, half of the Trump Administration's top staffers and officials will end up (a) squealing on each other (b) fleeing the wreckage of the Administration (c) seeking asylum in Russia.

Good on the Congressional Republicans asking Sessions to recuse out of fear for their political hides.

This has absolutely zero to do with truth and everything to do with politics. Trump's political opponents and their allies in the fake news media have their prewritten impeachment story about 'russia owns Trump, Russia hacked the elections'.

There will be literally zero connection between whether or not this story is true at all and whether or not Trump is impeached on the basis of it. Its all to do with politics

How can you say it's just politics?

There is a clear Russian connection with Trump's team and it has to be investigated. Just because you say it doesn't exist does not make it so. There is evidence to back these allegations; there isn't evidence (yet) to prove their innocence.

There's sweet Fanny Adams to back up these allegations, just a few nothingburgers strung together with an elaborate web of innuendo. This has nothing to do with the Russians and everything to do with Democrats and NeverTrump Republicans getting together and churning out this bullsh**t because they don't like the election result and are looking for a pretext to overturn it.

[EnglishPete]

Well, we don't want an investigation. We already had an election to settle this matter.

that's the typical BS campaigns are usually spreading.

vote for a candidate = support for everything this candidate stood for.

if hillary would have won the election (she practically has), that wouldn't mean people would approve of her email handling.

No one cares about the emails. They don't matter one bit. People were just using it as an excuse to be angry with a politician who echoed a different worldview.

Exactly, that exactly right. This Russia nonsense is no different.

[EnglishPete]

The honeymoon lasted less than 24 hours. The Administration is an embarrassment, and we will not be safe from Russian infiltration/blackmail until every member of the Trump Administration is gone.

I am fairly sure that if half of the suspicions about Russia are true, half of the Trump Administration's top staffers and officials will end up (a) squealing on each other (b) fleeing the wreckage of the Administration (c) seeking asylum in Russia.

Good on the Congressional Republicans asking Sessions to recuse out of fear for their political hides.

This has absolutely zero to do with truth and everything to do with politics. Trump's political opponents and their allies in the fake news media have their prewritten impeachment story about 'russia owns Trump, Russia hacked the elections'.

There will be literally zero connection between whether or not this story is true at all and whether or not Trump is impeached on the basis of it. Its all to do with politics

How can you say it's just politics?

There is a clear Russian connection with Trump's team and it has to be investigated. Just because you say it doesn't exist does not make it so. There is evidence to back these allegations; there isn't evidence (yet) to prove their innocence.

There's sweet Fanny Adams to back up these allegations, just a few nothingburgers strung together with an elaborate web of innuendo. This has nothing to do with the Russians and everything to do with Democrats and NeverTrump Republicans getting together and churning out this bullsh**t because they don't like the election result and are looking for a pretext to overturn it.

Okay so what are you basing your belief on, that there is no Russian connection. Your own intuition?

I'm basing it on the fact that well connected Trump opponents are constantly trying to churn out evidence for this 'connection' in order to protect their political cartel  and all they're able to come up with are these nothingburgers.

[EnglishPete]

I'm just wondering, had Hillary won and then a Russian scandal such as this emerged about her and her campaign and her post-election administration, how would Republicans feel about and how would they react? Because I can tell you, as a Hillary voter, I would be livid, and could no longer support her or her administration.

This is not just normal politics anymore. Just because someone has an R or a D next to their name doesn't make them more or less guilty of any wrongdoing. One side is clearly in the wrong and there is no way to spin it--even trying to is outright dangerous, unpatriotic, and borderline treasonous.

Were this Hillary, the Republicans would have impeached 3/4 of her Cabinet before the word 'I didn't -" escaped her lips. The Republicans are shaking in their boots and being cowards about the Russian connection. It's going to be great fun to see this explode over the next 2 years. At some point, they'll jettison Trump and install Pence to deal with the damage, I think.

There are a TON of issues Trump is vulnerable on and should be fully investigated on. There's the mob (also Russian in flavor), there's his business dealings, there's the Manafort angle, there's the hidden tax returns (which almost assuredly shows some nefarious things), and so on and so on.

you assume far more conviction from the Republicans than I think they have.

I might be but I assume at some point, there will be enough evidence that the GOP will abandon Trump. There is too much smoke to not assume there's a massive fire going on.

There is plenty of smoke because a cosy little cabal of well connected Democrats and establishment neverTrumper Republicans have decided to devote their energies to generating smoke from every flimsy little bit of fuel they can find.

As for those wondering why the Democrats and neverTrumpers on this thread seem to be so genuinely outraged in there reaction to this obvious nonsense Scott Adams has the explanation

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http://blog.dilbert.com/post/157904840851/dopamine-puppets

[EnglishPete]

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/02/politics/democrats-sessions-russia-resignation-call/index.html?adkey=bn

The White House is hanging Sessions out to dry.  They say they only learned yesterday, through press reports, that Sessions had contact with the Russian envoy during the campaign.

I don't see a win for them in this, it'll be less damaging to have it finished sooner rather than later. Sure, a second resignation/firing (if it comes to that) will be BAD, but having on ongoing investigation will be WORSE. And a special prosecutor is the stuff of Trump's nightmares.

The Dems and NeverTrumpers have already made it perfectly clear that they want an ongoing Investigation and a Special investigator. All they're doing now is trying to build their pretext. If they can't use one excuse they'll find another.

Sacking people in an attempt to appease these people would be a big mistake as it would only embolden them. As Winston Churchill famously said about appeasement "An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last." For Trump to try to appease crocodiles like Schumer and McCain would be a tactical error.

[EnglishPete]

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/02/politics/democrats-sessions-russia-resignation-call/index.html?adkey=bn

The White House is hanging Sessions out to dry.  They say they only learned yesterday, through press reports, that Sessions had contact with the Russian envoy during the campaign.

How exactly is that "hanging him out to dry"? Its confirming what he said. If the meeting with the Russian ambassador was purely to do with his work as a Senator and nothing to do with the campaign he would have had no need to inform the campaign. The campaign would have had no cause to ask Sessions for a running commentary on every meeting with a foreign diplomat he had as part of his work. Did Hillary demand an inventory of such meetings from every Dem Senator actively involved in supporting her campaign. I'm sure Senators would find it insulting to be quizzed in this way by campaigns.

If the Administration said that they had been informed about the meetings at the time then the question would be raised as to why they had been informed. What would Sessions be informing them about?

[EnglishPete]

OMG! Shocking scandalous revelation on Senate Democrats!

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https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/08/06/p51-nations-press-senate-democrats-to-support-iran-deal/

[EnglishPete]

OMG! Shocking scandalous revelation on Senate Democrats!

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https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/08/06/p51-nations-press-senate-democrats-to-support-iran-deal/

Again, you're being deliberately obtuse. No one cares that a senator met with an ambassador. The problem is that he lied about it.

Whether his answer can be considered 'a lie' depends on what he understood to be the meaning of the question in context. The meaning of words, sentences and questions are not independent of context, language must be interpreted in context.

In any case all those people who think that he did 'lie' don't really care about that either. They're just looking for an excuse to work themselves up in a lather of righteous indignation.

[EnglishPete]

So what we know: the Attorney General lied about meeting with the Russian ambassador under oath,

No he didn't. The question, in context was about alleged contact between the Trump campaign and representatives of the Russian government. Sessions, referring to his role as a campaign surrogate, confirmed that he had had no such meetings. He did not refer to any meetings he had had in his role as a Senator because that is not what Sen. Franken asked about.

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No, he's recused himself from any existing or future investigations of any of the 2016 Presidential campaigns because he was part of one of those campaigns. That's him going by the book on the recusal rules.

[EnglishPete]

Lmao he real mad. This is epic.

Considering the way you've been unable to conceal your frenzied longing for 'revenge' against the President that's some quite spectacular projection you're showing there.

[EnglishPete]

Lmao he real mad. This is epic.

Considering the way you've been unable to conceal your frenzied longing for 'revenge' against the President that's some quite spectacular projection you're showing there.

 

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https://reason.com/blog/2017/03/01/moral-outrage-is-self-serving

[EnglishPete]

nothing new at all..old as the time and necessary for our societies to survive.

What memes or moral outrage? or both?

[EnglishPete]

Lmao he real mad. This is epic.

Considering the way you've been unable to conceal your frenzied longing for 'revenge' against the President that's some quite spectacular projection you're showing there.

He mad. U mad. Memes ftw.

It's their language. That's why it gets to them. We've discovered the secret.