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This John Brennan quote on Russia just made Donald Trump's life much harder

poweRob

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This John Brennan quote on Russia just made Donald Trump's life much harder

Former CIA chief John Brennan offered a frank assessment of Russia's aggressive approach to meddling in the 2016 election and, in the process, complicated President Donald Trump's attempts to cast the whole thing as fake news.

This Brennan quote, in particular, is damning:

"I encountered and am aware of information and intelligence that revealed contacts and interactions between Russian officials and US persons involved in the Trump campaign that I was concerned about because of known Russian efforts to suborn such individuals. It raised questions in my mind about whether Russia was able to gain the cooperation of those individuals."​



Contrast that with what the Trump admin has been telling us:




Time for the trumpettes to move the goal posts in 5...4...3...2...
 
This John Brennan quote on Russia just made Donald Trump's life much harder

Former CIA chief John Brennan offered a frank assessment of Russia's aggressive approach to meddling in the 2016 election and, in the process, complicated President Donald Trump's attempts to cast the whole thing as fake news.

This Brennan quote, in particular, is damning:

"I encountered and am aware of information and intelligence that revealed contacts and interactions between Russian officials and US persons involved in the Trump campaign that I was concerned about because of known Russian efforts to suborn such individuals. It raised questions in my mind about whether Russia was able to gain the cooperation of those individuals."​



Contrast that with what the Trump admin has been telling us:




Time for the trumpettes to move the goal posts in 5...4...3...2...

From the quoted passage: "... It raised questions in my mind about whether Russia was able to gain the cooperation of those individuals." There's nothing really new here. We knew there was contact. We knew there was concern of potential collusion - that's what the fuss is about. We did not know whether or not there was actual collusion, and still don't, based off of this quote.
 
This John Brennan quote on Russia just made Donald Trump's life much harder

Former CIA chief John Brennan offered a frank assessment of Russia's aggressive approach to meddling in the 2016 election and, in the process, complicated President Donald Trump's attempts to cast the whole thing as fake news.

This Brennan quote, in particular, is damning:

"I encountered and am aware of information and intelligence that revealed contacts and interactions between Russian officials and US persons involved in the Trump campaign that I was concerned about because of known Russian efforts to suborn such individuals. It raised questions in my mind about whether Russia was able to gain the cooperation of those individuals."​



Contrast that with what the Trump admin has been telling us:


Time for the trumpettes to move the goal posts in 5...4...3...2...

Again, there is nothing factual in the quote other than the fact that Brennan said it. That is indeed noteworthy, but it can mean many different things. And it is from CNN, after all.
 
From the quoted passage: "... It raised questions in my mind about whether Russia was able to gain the cooperation of those individuals." There's nothing really new here. We knew there was contact. We knew there was concern of potential collusion - that's what the fuss is about. We did not know whether or not there was actual collusion, and still don't, based off of this quote.

Well Trumpettes have been saying for months that there was no proof of contact. If we can just get that over the bar then at least there is movement of some sort. It seems that they've settled on that there was contact and the deflection is now... "SO?????!!!!!???!?!?!!!" and "But... but.. but... was there collusion?"

As if an investigation this size will dump all that this early. Based on what I've read thus far I have my suspicions but we'll have to wait out the investigation.
 
I agree with all the comments above.

But at the least, it adds to the volume of evidence showing the investigation is indeed legit and deserved.
 
I agree with all the comments above.

But at the least, it adds to the volume of evidence showing the investigation is indeed legit and deserved.

Fair statement.
 
From the quoted passage: "... It raised questions in my mind about whether Russia was able to gain the cooperation of those individuals." There's nothing really new here. We knew there was contact. We knew there was concern of potential collusion - that's what the fuss is about. We did not know whether or not there was actual collusion, and still don't, based off of this quote.

But what is "actual collusion" in the context of everything he said? There isn't really any doubt that the Trump campaign was colluding with those people, but it would seem that "actual collusion" to his mind requires knowing exactly who it is you're colluding with, i.e. did they know they were Russian operatives? As he also said, "Frequently, people who go along a treasonous path do not know they are on a treasonous path until it is too late."
 
I agree with all the comments above.

But at the least, it adds to the volume of evidence showing the investigation is indeed legit and deserved.

There is no doubt that the investigation is legitimate and absolutely needs doing.
 
Well Trumpettes have been saying for months that there was no proof of contact. If we can just get that over the bar then at least there is movement of some sort. It seems that they've settled on that there was contact and the deflection is now... "SO?????!!!!!???!?!?!!!" and "But... but.. but... was there collusion?"

As if an investigation this size will dump all that this early. Based on what I've read thus far I have my suspicions but we'll have to wait out the investigation.
Trump's supporters have been saying that, because Trump has been saying that!

The sad truth is, it seems a sitting President cannot be criminally charged. Because if he could, could you imagine Trump on the stand trying to explain his constant continuous lying?

I'm sure many men have been hung for less ...
 
This John Brennan quote on Russia just made Donald Trump's life much harder

Former CIA chief John Brennan offered a frank assessment of Russia's aggressive approach to meddling in the 2016 election and, in the process, complicated President Donald Trump's attempts to cast the whole thing as fake news.

This Brennan quote, in particular, is damning:

"I encountered and am aware of information and intelligence that revealed contacts and interactions between Russian officials and US persons involved in the Trump campaign that I was concerned about because of known Russian efforts to suborn such individuals. It raised questions in my mind about whether Russia was able to gain the cooperation of those individuals."​



Contrast that with what the Trump admin has been telling us:




Time for the trumpettes to move the goal posts in 5...4...3...2...

I happen to have just finished watching (listening to, mostly) his testimony and what I found most striking was that when it comes to the "IC" damned near anything and everything is considered to be a potential threat.

Brennan took the scenic route through a lot of questions but it was rather clear that there was no evidence of collaboration between Russia and Trump or his staff. The concern seemed to be that someone on the staff might be "compromised" because they had dealings in Russia and Russia may have been seeking to recruit them. It sounded to me like the equivalent of someone being "compromised" by Amazon because they bought something and now Jeff Bezos is working an algorithm to figure out what they'll buy next.
 
Well Trumpettes have been saying for months that there was no proof of contact. If we can just get that over the bar then at least there is movement of some sort. It seems that they've settled on that there was contact and the deflection is now... "SO?????!!!!!???!?!?!!!" and "But... but.. but... was there collusion?"

As if an investigation this size will dump all that this early. Based on what I've read thus far I have my suspicions but we'll have to wait out the investigation.
No one is saying there weren't contacts. And what Brennan said was that the Russians try to recruit people and those people don't often know they are being recruited. I don't doubt that the Russians were trying to snuggle up to certain Trump people. in fact its likely they do this sort of thing all the time. The question is whether or not there was actual collusion ny Trump, not whether or not the Russians tried to infiltrate the campaign. And there are certain suspicious characters--Flynn, Manafort and Page. I also suspect that if there were contacts and the Cia was aware of them, the CIA was listening in and know what was being discussed.
 
Trump's supporters have been saying that, because Trump has been saying that!

The sad truth is, it seems a sitting President cannot be criminally charged. Because if he could, could you imagine Trump on the stand trying to explain his constant continuous lying?

I'm sure many men have been hung for less ...

An impeached prez is no longer prez though. :wink:

I'd be surprised if Trump himself colluded with the russians... beyond standing in front of cameras and point-blank asking Russians to hack out Hillary's emails. IMO the biggest threat to him is the cover up and possible attempts at thwarting the investigation.

If there was collusion from the trump campaign... IF... I'd put my money on Kushner who allegedly worked out back channel communications with the russians via Abu Dhabi.

I think Flynn will go down for being an unregistered foreign agent and lying about it. And as the investigation digs they'll find Manafort will get wrapped up for illegal behavior in his business dealings with and for the Russians in the Ukraine long before all of this.

These are my predictions.
 
Frequent contacts with Russian FSB agents and officials and repeated lies from the Trump campaign and administration about it.
Contacts are not collusion.
 
No one is saying there weren't contacts.


And what Brennan said was that the Russians try to recruit people and those people don't often know they are being recruited. I don't doubt that the Russians were trying to snuggle up to certain Trump people. in fact its likely they do this sort of thing all the time. The question is whether or not there was actual collusion ny Trump, not whether or not the Russians tried to infiltrate the campaign. And there are certain suspicious characters--Flynn, Manafort and Page. I also suspect that if there were contacts and the Cia was aware of them, the CIA was listening in and know what was being discussed.

He said that the russians have a habit of snuggling up to people to recruit them and he said that this raised enough suspicion to further warrant a look-see investigation to see if any had taken the bait. That's where we are at at this point.
 
I agree with all the comments above.

But at the least, it adds to the volume of evidence showing the investigation is indeed legit and deserved.

I am more than willing to say that the saying 'where there's smoke there's fire' isn't always true, but there sure appears to be a hell of a lot of smoke here.
 
American politicians speak with Russian officials every day. Each and every conversation is a contact.

Contact doesn't equal collusion unless some thing else is proven.
 
Contacts are not collusion.

No one said collusion. This is the moving of the goalposts I said would happen in the OP.

Trump admin and his minions here on this site reiterated that there was no contact. Now that it's established they have contacted the goal posts are moving to collusion. And should that be established then the goal posts will move yet again.
 
No one said collusion. This is the moving of the goalposts I said would happen in the OP.

Trump admin and his minions here on this site reiterated that there was no contact. Now that it's established they have contacted the goal posts are moving to collusion. And should that be established then the goal posts will move yet again.

He was replying to someone who did use the term colluding.
 
American politicians speak with Russian officials every day. Each and every conversation is a contact.

Contact doesn't equal collusion unless some thing else is proven.

Yes. But they usually don't lie about it.
 
An impeached prez is no longer prez though. :wink:

I'd be surprised if Trump himself colluded with the russians... beyond standing in front of cameras and point-blank asking Russians to hack out Hillary's emails. IMO the biggest threat to him is the cover up and possible attempts at thwarting the investigation.

If there was collusion from the trump campaign... IF... I'd put my money on Kushner who allegedly worked out back channel communications with the russians via Abu Dhabi.

I think Flynn will go down for being an unregistered foreign agent and lying about it. And as the investigation digs they'll find Manafort will get wrapped up for illegal behavior in his business dealings with and for the Russians in the Ukraine long before all of this.

These are my predictions.
I agree with everything here.

Including the first line, which is absolutely correct. Congress impeaches, then they can ask for, or receive unasked, civilian charges from the Federal Attorney or any other States Attorney.
 
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