jimnyc
02-26-2019, 01:33 PM
Who knows at this point, as a huge report is about to be released. I'm of the belief that there comes absolutely nothing out of it about "Trump and/or Russian collusion".
What I think we do know, is that this was a made up sham from the beginning, to prevent Trump from getting into office, and then to try and remove him from office.
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Did Trump Win His War on the Russia Investigation?
The Russia investigation may be drawing to a close. According to multiple news organizations, special counsel Robert Mueller is preparing to report his findings to Attorney General Bill Barr in the coming weeks. It’s unclear what the report will say—and how much of it Barr will make public—but it’s entirely possible, even likely, that Mueller has not found conclusive proof of a corrupt bargain between the Trump campaign and the Russian government during the 2016 election.
If so, that may be because no such evidence exists. But it’s more likely that President Trump’s effort to hinder the Russia investigation simply worked—specifically, his implicit promise to pardon allies in exchange for their silence.
The case of Paul Manafort is illustrative. Mueller scored a major victory in September when the former Trump campaign chairman agreed to cooperate with the investigation. I noted at the time that Manafort was one of the few Americans who could give a comprehensive account of the Trump campaign’s interactions with Russia. His extensive ties to Moscow made him the most likely conduit for an explicit quid pro quo arrangement with the Kremlin if one took place. Manafort was also the only American participant in the infamous Trump Tower meeting in June 2016 who was not related to the president by blood or marriage.
Former federal prosecutors noted how Mueller’s approach seemed to mirror traditional white-collar and organized-crime cases: Strike bargains with low-level members of a conspiracy, get testimony against higher-level members of it, and work your way in. The collapse of Manafort’s plea deal may have short-circuited that strategy, perhaps fatally. In November, Mueller told a federal judge that he believed Manafort had breached his plea agreement by lying to federal prosecutors multiple times. The judge largely agreed with that assessment earlier this month.
Why would Manafort implode a deal that would secure him a shorter prison sentence? Trump’s implicit offer of pardons appears to have played a role. The Russia investigation always operated under this sword of Damocles. Presidential pardons don’t affect state prosecutions, however, making the latter a fail-safe of sorts in case the president started to shut down Mueller’s inquiry. The special counsel’s office reportedly began working with the New York attorney general’s office in the summer of 2017 on the financial-crimes portion of Manafort’s case. Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. is also reportedly preparing to file charges against Manafort soon.
Rest - https://newrepublic.com/article/153160/trump-win-war-russia-investigation
Former Federal Prosecutor Sidney Powell: The Entire Russia Collusion Narrative Was Made Up
Journalist Sharyl Attkisson, the host of "Full Measure," interviews former federal prosecutor Sidney Powell about her allegation that the "entire Russia collusion narrative was made up" by anti-Trump political partisans in the FBI and Department of Justice:
SHARYL ATTKISSON, FULL MEASURE: Nearly two years ago, Special Counsel Mueller was named to investigate whether President Trump broke the law by somehow conspiring with Russian President Vladimir Putin to win the presidency. We still don’t know the outcome of that. But we’ve learned a lot about what some in our intelligence community have been up to. And some argue that’s proving to be an equally important— and chilling— story.
From Trump associate Roger Stone to former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, and ex-Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, the Trump-Russia probe has indicted or convicted 34 people so far. And although Special Counsel Robert Mueller has yet to publicly pinpoint illegal Russia collusion on Trump’s part he’s still looking. Meantime, former federal prosecutor Sidney Powell is making an explosive allegation. She’s among those who believe there’s now compelling evidence pointing to a parallel scandal.
In the simplest of terms if possible, what do you think is the story that's been uncovered in the past two years?
SIDNEY POWELL: That the entire Russia collusion narrative was made up. That the FBI and the intelligence community and the Department of Justice began an investigation against four American citizens simply because they worked for the opposition political candidate, that being Donald Trump.
Powell, who calls herself politically independent, served as an assistant prosecutor under nine U.S. Attorneys, both Democrats and Republicans. Where many see “Russia collusion” she sees systemic corruption inside the Justice Department and intelligence community. A topic she writes about in “License to Lie.” Crucial evidence, Powell claims, lies within these little-reported court documents— where our intel agencies get lambasted— not by partisans, but by the lead judge in the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
SIDNEY POWELL: —A 99-page opinion, in which she is taking the FBI to task for having given unlimited, unsupervised access to raw intelligence, that means the database of everything the NSA, the National Security Agency, collects on everybody. Word searches, keystrokes, what do you look at in Google, telephone information, calls, texts, you name it. Everything, every nightmare anybody has of information being collected by big brother, the FBI gave three private contractors unlimited, unsupervised access to that as far back as 2015.
In an opinion dated October 2016, Judge Rosemary Collyer writes that an Inspector General found the FBI and National Security Agency—NSA—had committed “widespread” violations of key protections for Americans. And because they waited to notify the court until days before the election— many months after government watchdogs discovered the abuses— Collyer said the NSA was guilty of “institutional ‘lack of candor’ ” and “This is a very serious Fourth Amendment issue.”
SHARYL ATTKISSON: The Judge's language in this opinion is pretty harsh. She says that there could be Constitutional violations—
SIDNEY POWELL: Oh there were—
SHARYL ATTKISSON: She may say there were Constitutional violations.
SIDNEY POWELL: Yes, at one point she talks about egregious Fourth Amendment violations.
SHARYL ATTKISSON: And who was head of the FBI during this time period?
SIDNEY POWELL: That was Mr. Comey.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2019/02/25/former_federal_prosecutor_sidney_powell_the_entire _russia_collusion_narrative_was_made_up.html
What I think we do know, is that this was a made up sham from the beginning, to prevent Trump from getting into office, and then to try and remove him from office.
---
Did Trump Win His War on the Russia Investigation?
The Russia investigation may be drawing to a close. According to multiple news organizations, special counsel Robert Mueller is preparing to report his findings to Attorney General Bill Barr in the coming weeks. It’s unclear what the report will say—and how much of it Barr will make public—but it’s entirely possible, even likely, that Mueller has not found conclusive proof of a corrupt bargain between the Trump campaign and the Russian government during the 2016 election.
If so, that may be because no such evidence exists. But it’s more likely that President Trump’s effort to hinder the Russia investigation simply worked—specifically, his implicit promise to pardon allies in exchange for their silence.
The case of Paul Manafort is illustrative. Mueller scored a major victory in September when the former Trump campaign chairman agreed to cooperate with the investigation. I noted at the time that Manafort was one of the few Americans who could give a comprehensive account of the Trump campaign’s interactions with Russia. His extensive ties to Moscow made him the most likely conduit for an explicit quid pro quo arrangement with the Kremlin if one took place. Manafort was also the only American participant in the infamous Trump Tower meeting in June 2016 who was not related to the president by blood or marriage.
Former federal prosecutors noted how Mueller’s approach seemed to mirror traditional white-collar and organized-crime cases: Strike bargains with low-level members of a conspiracy, get testimony against higher-level members of it, and work your way in. The collapse of Manafort’s plea deal may have short-circuited that strategy, perhaps fatally. In November, Mueller told a federal judge that he believed Manafort had breached his plea agreement by lying to federal prosecutors multiple times. The judge largely agreed with that assessment earlier this month.
Why would Manafort implode a deal that would secure him a shorter prison sentence? Trump’s implicit offer of pardons appears to have played a role. The Russia investigation always operated under this sword of Damocles. Presidential pardons don’t affect state prosecutions, however, making the latter a fail-safe of sorts in case the president started to shut down Mueller’s inquiry. The special counsel’s office reportedly began working with the New York attorney general’s office in the summer of 2017 on the financial-crimes portion of Manafort’s case. Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. is also reportedly preparing to file charges against Manafort soon.
Rest - https://newrepublic.com/article/153160/trump-win-war-russia-investigation
Former Federal Prosecutor Sidney Powell: The Entire Russia Collusion Narrative Was Made Up
Journalist Sharyl Attkisson, the host of "Full Measure," interviews former federal prosecutor Sidney Powell about her allegation that the "entire Russia collusion narrative was made up" by anti-Trump political partisans in the FBI and Department of Justice:
SHARYL ATTKISSON, FULL MEASURE: Nearly two years ago, Special Counsel Mueller was named to investigate whether President Trump broke the law by somehow conspiring with Russian President Vladimir Putin to win the presidency. We still don’t know the outcome of that. But we’ve learned a lot about what some in our intelligence community have been up to. And some argue that’s proving to be an equally important— and chilling— story.
From Trump associate Roger Stone to former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, and ex-Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, the Trump-Russia probe has indicted or convicted 34 people so far. And although Special Counsel Robert Mueller has yet to publicly pinpoint illegal Russia collusion on Trump’s part he’s still looking. Meantime, former federal prosecutor Sidney Powell is making an explosive allegation. She’s among those who believe there’s now compelling evidence pointing to a parallel scandal.
In the simplest of terms if possible, what do you think is the story that's been uncovered in the past two years?
SIDNEY POWELL: That the entire Russia collusion narrative was made up. That the FBI and the intelligence community and the Department of Justice began an investigation against four American citizens simply because they worked for the opposition political candidate, that being Donald Trump.
Powell, who calls herself politically independent, served as an assistant prosecutor under nine U.S. Attorneys, both Democrats and Republicans. Where many see “Russia collusion” she sees systemic corruption inside the Justice Department and intelligence community. A topic she writes about in “License to Lie.” Crucial evidence, Powell claims, lies within these little-reported court documents— where our intel agencies get lambasted— not by partisans, but by the lead judge in the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
SIDNEY POWELL: —A 99-page opinion, in which she is taking the FBI to task for having given unlimited, unsupervised access to raw intelligence, that means the database of everything the NSA, the National Security Agency, collects on everybody. Word searches, keystrokes, what do you look at in Google, telephone information, calls, texts, you name it. Everything, every nightmare anybody has of information being collected by big brother, the FBI gave three private contractors unlimited, unsupervised access to that as far back as 2015.
In an opinion dated October 2016, Judge Rosemary Collyer writes that an Inspector General found the FBI and National Security Agency—NSA—had committed “widespread” violations of key protections for Americans. And because they waited to notify the court until days before the election— many months after government watchdogs discovered the abuses— Collyer said the NSA was guilty of “institutional ‘lack of candor’ ” and “This is a very serious Fourth Amendment issue.”
SHARYL ATTKISSON: The Judge's language in this opinion is pretty harsh. She says that there could be Constitutional violations—
SIDNEY POWELL: Oh there were—
SHARYL ATTKISSON: She may say there were Constitutional violations.
SIDNEY POWELL: Yes, at one point she talks about egregious Fourth Amendment violations.
SHARYL ATTKISSON: And who was head of the FBI during this time period?
SIDNEY POWELL: That was Mr. Comey.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2019/02/25/former_federal_prosecutor_sidney_powell_the_entire _russia_collusion_narrative_was_made_up.html