Re: F.B.I. Raids Office of Trump’s Longtime Lawyer Michael Cohen[W:1638]
You write: "It is an attempt to oust Trump, that's really all it is, the claims of collusion are baseless, there's no evidence of this," I would like to know, and I'm sure others would like to know also, HOW do you know that "the claims of collusion are baseless"? What is the source of your information? Is it available to the public?
I know this because no evidence has been offered to show there was any collusion. Whatever evidence Mueller may have obtained through his investigation is secret.
Really? You don't think that "evidence of possible money laundering, undisclosed foreign lobbying, tax evasion, undeclared finances, improperly submitted forms and questionable dealings" are sufficient cause for further investigation by the Special Counsel? These actions are felonies and if the president participated in these crimes, he should be impeached. Do you believe that simply because Donald J Trump is the president that he is not subject to the laws of the United States and cannot be charged for criminal behaviour?
The evidence of those misdeed, in every case and in all matters involve transactions before Trump announced his candidacy and people other than him.
You have said in prior comments that you are a patriotic American but apparently, you don't believe that those agencies charged with keeping this nation and its citizens' safe in a tumultuous world, told us the truth when they said they have evidence of Russian meddling in the 2016 elections. Why?
I have never said I was a "patriotic American", I come from Spain, the term "American" is repulsive to me, people from the US are what we (in Spain) call "estadounidenses" (united statians). But no, I don't believe there is evidence of any
significant Russian meddling in the 2016 elections. There were some efforts, perhaps even $100,000 was spent by Russians on social media advertising, Russian 'bots' fostered protests against (and in support) of Trump, Muslims, immigration or gun control. None of this had significant impact on the election.
Despite the vast majority of Congress voting for sanctions against Russia last year, Trump did not order those sanctions to take effect until March of this year. Don't you wonder why this great patriotic leader of True Americans failed to act just a few months earlier?
In Spain we say "las cosas de palacio van despacio" (palace matters proceed slowly). I think the imposition of sanctions, like many foreign policy matters, require careful consideration, anticipated reprisals need to be taken into account, the appropriateness of the measure, its financial impact, consequences, the precedent it establishes. These issues all require deliberation, the input of experts, lobbyists and assorted diplomatic fellows.
You may not have noticed but Trump is the one who has been saying the US should pull out of Syria.
I have, and understand his reasoning, there isn't much the US can accomplish in Syria, maybe carve out a Kurdish nation, which would irritate NATO ally Turkey.
In typical Trumpian fashion, during the 2016 campaign, Trump said on more than one occasion that America should accept Russia's annexation of the Crimean peninsula but as soon as he became president he had a different take on the matter. Unlike his usual behaviour, there were actually several months between the initial statements and the contradictory ones. Usually, he contradicts himself within a few days or weeks, sometimes just hours.
There are intelligent and profound reasons in support of both positions; Crimea, like all of Ukraine is very Russian (in fact it is known as "little Russia" and presumed to be the historical root of Russia), nonetheless, the Soviet Union unequivocably and quite explicitly ceded Crimea and all of Ukraine complete independence.
When you write that the feds should be focused "on decades of shady dealings by shadier characters", I would assume that you are not thinking of Trump, his sons and the Trump Organization, as being included in that phrase, even though some of us think they are a perfect description of the characters to be found in the Trump Tower during the past 20 years.
You are mistaken, I think Mueller should focus on collusion, that his focus should only span any evidence of dealings with explicit agents of the actual Russian government between the time Trump announced his candidacy and his election.
In New York City, this past week, a judge ruled that an apartment building could remove Trump's name from the building facade as the connection with Trump was harmful to residents attempting to sell their apartments. This was the fourth NYC building to remove the Trump name in the past year, all owing to the negative effect on building values.
There's a judge in NYC who thinks Trump's name has a detrimental effect on property valuation.
