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#961 Re: The Garden » US Politics Thread » 496 weeks ago

So Trump has lawyered up and is going to send an "official letter" stating that he has no Russian ties. What the hell? An official letter? OK.

Either way, at the end of the day, Trump just hired a powerful law firm to represent him.

Also the letter he wrote to Comey contained a big whopper: That Comey assured him he was not under investigation three times. That was proven false today.

The Senate committee has now issued a subpoena for Michael Flynn.

WH staff and members of the IC now leaking that Trump's pretense for dismissing Comey was also false.

I expect more leaks coming up now after this mess. Will they be big enough for the GOP to abandon Trump? I'm guessing it might happen. The IC appears to be irate. This is war.

Get your popcorn ready...

#962 Re: The Garden » US Politics Thread » 496 weeks ago

Russia probe: Senate requests Trump documents from agency that monitors money laundering

The Senate Intelligence Committee has requested information about President Donald Trump and his top aides from a financial intelligence unit in the Treasury Department.

The Senate panel has requested information about President Donald Trump and his top aides from a financial intelligence unit in the Treasury Department that imposed a $10 million civil penalty on Trump Taj Mahal in 2015 for multiple violations of money-laundering laws.

The Senate Intelligence Committee wants to see any information relevant to its Russia investigation the Treasury agency has gathered, including evidence that might include possible money laundering, according to a committee aide who spoke on condition of anonymity. Also at issue: to what extent, if at all, people close to Vladimir Putin have invested in Trump's real estate empire.

The request, made in recent weeks, comes as part of the Senate's investigation into whether Trump associates colluded with Russian meddling in the U.S. election. The FBI is also investigating that issue, but that probe is now under a cloud after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey.

White House spokesman Michael Short said the president is confident the investigation will exonerate his campaign.

"There's a process, and that process is moving forward, and we're confident that once it's complete everyone will again see that there is no `there,' there when it comes to alleged collusion."

Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has assisted in the ongoing FBI counterintelligence investigation into Trump administration ties with Russia, multiple U.S. officials have said. A former senior Treasury official said that agency would have the authority to demand from any bank with a U.S. branch, including foreign banks, relevant records of transactions by Trump, his family members or his associates. FinCEN also maintains databases of reports of suspicious and cash transactions.

Trump's ownership in the Taj Mahal was sharply reduced in 2009 when he resigned as chairman of the company owning the Atlantic City casino after it was reorganized in a bankruptcy. His remaining stake was wiped out when the company was acquired in 2014 by billionaire financier and Trump advisor Carl Icahn, who shut down the casino in October.

FinCEN imposed a $10 million civil penalty in 2015 against Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort for "willful and repeated violations of the Bank Secrecy Act," and ordered the casino to conduct "periodic external audits to examine its anti-money laundering" compliance program and "provide those audit reports to FinCEN," according to a Treasury Department statement announcing the penalty.

FinCEN "collects and analyzes information about financial transactions in order to combat domestic and international money laundering, terrorist financing, and other financial crimes," the agency says on its website.

The Senate committee's request covers any potentially relevant information about Trump, his family, his businesses and his associates, the aide said. Such a request presumably would cover copies of the Taj Mahal audits.

In a consent order, Trump Taj Mahal admitted to having "willfully violated" reporting and record-keeping requirements under the federal Bank Secrecy Act from 2010 to 2012.

FinCEN's complaint said violations had been revealed by the Internal Revenue Service as far back as 2003. In 1998, FinCEN assessed a $477,700 civil penalty against Trump Taj Mahal for currency transaction reporting violations.

"Trump Taj Mahal received many warnings about its deficiencies," then-FinCEN Director Jennifer Shasky Calvery said in the 2015 statement. "Poor compliance practices, over many years, left the casino and our financial system unacceptably exposed."

The penalty became an unsecured claim in Trump Taj Mahal's bankruptcy proceeding, which was originally filed in September 2014.

Under the Bank Secrecy Act, casinos are required to report suspicious transactions of $5,000 or more. Trump Taj Mahal failed to file about half of the required suspicious activity reports during periods covered by two reviews by the Internal Revenue Service, according to the consent order.

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/10/russia-p … gency.html

#963 Re: The Garden » US Politics Thread » 496 weeks ago

PaSnow wrote:

A pretty astute post I saw on an articles comments section elsewhere:

Its not just that Trump is so blatantly, openly corrupt, its that he is so appallingly stupid. The man isn't even a good #$%$, he's just a blithering imbecile bullying his way across our political landscape, destroying everything he touches.

I agree.

And it's no surprise to me that a wrecking ball with a bad comb-over continues to act like a wrecking ball with a bad comb-over once in office. He showed us all who he was during the primaries and then the general. People say he's unpredictable. I'd argue the opposite: He's entirely predictable.

A post a came across while reading an article from the Guardian:

Republicans need to decide which side of history and the law they wish to be on and act, quickly. If this had been a Democrat president, the screams of impeachment would have been resonating up and down the Washington halls of power. Instead, 8 years in the political wilderness, or at least, not in firm charge of the WH, despite a congressional majority, seem to have allowed them to forge a Faustian pact with an unstable, unsuitable, unscrupulous narcissist and demagogue. By staying silent, they are complicit, by doing nothing, they are aiding abetting and, at the risk of melodrama, the maxim: "for evil to prevail, all it requires is for good me to do nothing" could not be more prescient. How long can they tolerate this aberration of a presidency, and for how much longer will they allow Trump to drag America's reputation - and their's - through the gutter?

#964 Re: The Garden » US Politics Thread » 496 weeks ago

James Comey Sought More Funding for FBI’s Russia Probe Before Being Fired

https://www.wsj.com/articles/james-come … 1494433061

#965 Re: The Garden » US Politics Thread » 496 weeks ago

Lets say Trump is completely clean on this. No monkey business.

The optics are horrible:

Subpoenas issued by a grand jury
Trump fires Comey
Trump then meets with Russian foreign minister the very next day

Is this guy a complete idiot or what?

Edit: And I'll also add that I bet we'll see more leaks now about this. There are people inside the FBI and other intelligence agencies who are undoubtedly pretty pissed off now.

#967 Re: The Garden » US Politics Thread » 496 weeks ago

Grand jury subpoenas have been issued...

CNN exclusive: Grand jury subpoenas issued in FBI's Russia investigation

Washington (CNN)Federal prosecutors have issued grand jury subpoenas to associates of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn seeking business records, as part of the ongoing probe of Russian meddling in last year's election, according to people familiar with the matter. CNN learned of the subpoenas hours before President Donald Trump fired FBI director James Comey.

The subpoenas represent the first sign of a significant escalation of activity in the FBI's broader investigation begun last July into possible ties between Trump campaign associates and Russia.

The subpoenas issued in recent weeks by the US Attorney's Office in Alexandria, Virginia, were received by associates who worked with Flynn on contracts after he was forced out as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014, according to the people familiar with the investigation.
Robert Kelner, an attorney for Flynn, declined to comment. The US Attorney's Office in Alexandria, the Justice Department and the FBI also declined to comment.

Investigators have been looking into possible wrongdoing in how Flynn handled disclosures about payments from clients tied to foreign governments including Russia and Turkey, US officials briefed on the matter have told CNN.

The Flynn inquiry is one piece of the broader investigation, which FBI Director James Comey testified in a Senate hearing last week is led jointly by the Alexandria US Attorney's Office and the Justice Department's National Security Division.

Flynn was forced to resign as Trump's national security advisor in February after failing to disclose the nature of phone discussions with Russia's ambassador in Washington, Sergey Kislyak.

Congressional investigators have also accused Flynn of possibly breaking the law by not properly disclosing a $45,000 payment for an appearance he made at an event in Moscow to celebrate Russia Today. The Russian government-funded news outlet that US intelligence agencies say played a key role in disseminating stolen emails intended to damage the candidacy of Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.

Flynn's lawyer, Robert Kelner, has said that Flynn was not hiding anything, noting that he briefed the DIA on his trip to Russia.
"As has previously been reported, General Flynn briefed the Defense Intelligence Agency, a component agency of DoD, extensively regarding the RT speaking event trip both before and after the trip, and he answered any questions that were posed by DIA concerning the trip during those briefings," Kelner said in a statement

In March, Flynn's lobbying firm registered as a foreign agent for the Turkish government, under a $500,000 contract.

Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general, emerged in 2015 as a strident critic of the Obama administration, which fired him. He built a close relationship last year with then-candidate Trump and became a frequent Trump campaign surrogate before assuming a brief tenure as national security advisor.

US Attorney Dana Boente, whose office issued the subpoenas, is also leading the investigation into WikiLeaks and the effort to bring possible charges against the group's founder, Julian Assange. Boente is also acting as head of the Justice Department's national security section.

The FBI interviewed Flynn about the December calls with Kislyak and determined that he wasn't intentionally trying to be deceptive about the nature of what was discussed, according to US officials briefed on the investigation. But investigators have been investigating Flynn's business ties after he left the government and before he joined the Trump administration.

#968 Re: The Garden » US Politics Thread » 496 weeks ago

Randall Flagg wrote:

But I'm also intelligent enough to realize that firing Comey wouldn't have any impact on an ongoing investigation or existing evidence that is "classified" and hasn't been released to the public.
.

Who is making this argument?

#969 Re: The Garden » US Politics Thread » 496 weeks ago

Randall Flagg wrote:
slcpunk wrote:
Randall Flagg wrote:

I want to know why Trump felt now was the time to fire Comey.

You serious?


Yes, I want an explanation.  And not some bullshit one about him having to clarify the amount of emails Huma forwarded.  This deserves a real explanation.  The President shouldn't be firing the director of the FBI arbitrarily.

Oh I see.

Trump gave one already. You don't accept that then?

But dude, it's pretty obvious why he fired him. Clear as day. C'mon now...

#970 Re: The Garden » US Politics Thread » 496 weeks ago

Randall Flagg wrote:

Can you guess the poster?


After Comey made his October Surprise announcement:

This won't make a difference at all, not at this point.

A criminal investigation?
I love how you guys take one snippet, redefine it, and run with it like it's some big discovery.
Such is the way of the conspiracy theorist I guess.

I've lost all faith in the Comey and it doesn't say much for the FBI itself. This is Hoover shit. They couldn't damage her with facts, so they're doing it with innuendo.



After the election:

End anchor babies. Pass everify and punish businesses that hire illegals.  Keep the pre-existing condition and mandate, but open the markets across state lines. Renegotiate all trade and work with Jordan and Saudi Arabia to put boots on the ground with American air and logistical support to end ISIS.  Put another Scalia on the bench. He does that, he'll be remembered like Reagan.


Why don't you quit spending all your spare time trying to paint others as hypocrites and get real for once. 

You either stand with your party or your country at this point.

What's it going to be?

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