No One Should Believe a Word Trump Says About the Trump Tower Meeting

[Dashinka 24,489]

55 minutes ago, smilesammich said:

there's a reason he's been lying about not knowing.

Because it is irrelevant?

[smilesammich 10,727]

Just now, Bill & Katya said:

Because it is irrelevant?

trump lies because something is irrelevant? 

[Dashinka 24,489]

31 minutes ago, smilesammich said:

trump lies because something is irrelevant? 

Still haven’t seen the part where he lied about this irrelevant meeting.  Sure the biased left wing media are currently running that narrative, but considering all the false news and fact omissions they run with I guess some may think there is an actual story here.

[smilesammich 10,727]

10 minutes ago, Bill & Katya said:

Still haven’t seen the part where he lied about this irrelevant meeting.  Sure the biased left wing media are currently running that narrative, but considering all the false news and fact omissions they run with I guess some may think there is an actual story here.

what you choose to see, then. the 'story' is trump's own words. 

[Dashinka 24,489]

39 minutes ago, smilesammich said:

what you choose to see, then. the 'story' is trump's own words. 

Or what “facts” the biased media chooses to include with its narratives.

[smilesammich 10,727]

17 minutes ago, Bill & Katya said:

Or what “facts” the biased media chooses to include with its narratives.

seems to really bother trump, triggers him for some odd reason, he just has to tweet about it.

[Dashinka 24,489]

10 hours ago, smilesammich said:

seems to really bother trump, triggers him for some odd reason, he just has to tweet about it.

How would you react if your children were being attacked relentlessly by big media over something that is essentially meaningless, as well as an obvious double standard?

[smilesammich 10,727]

3 hours ago, Bill & Katya said:

How would you react if your children were being attacked relentlessly by big media over something that is essentially meaningless, as well as an obvious double standard?

what does this have to do with the topic at hand? i could see if the media was attacking baron for trump's actions, he is an actual child. trump jr is 40 and was working for trump's campaign so..his actions have consequences. if trump was concerned about protecting his children from scrutiny, he wouldn't have had them working for him.

i don't see a double standard.

[The Nature Boy 7,659]

1 hour ago, smilesammich said:

what does this have to do with the topic at hand? i could see if the media was attacking baron for trump's actions, he is an actual child. trump jr is 40 and was working for trump's campaign so..his actions have consequences. if trump was concerned about protecting his children from scrutiny, he wouldn't have had them working for him.

i don't see a double standard.

I find myself agreeing with you on that.  If they enter the arena they are gladiators. Kids like Barron and the Obama kids should be off limits 

[Dashinka 24,489]

3 hours ago, smilesammich said:

what does this have to do with the topic at hand? i could see if the media was attacking baron for trump's actions, he is an actual child. trump jr is 40 and was working for trump's campaign so..his actions have consequences. if trump was concerned about protecting his children from scrutiny, he wouldn't have had them working for him.

i don't see a double standard.

 

2 hours ago, Nature Boy Flair said:

I find myself agreeing with you on that.  If they enter the arena they are gladiators. Kids like Barron and the Obama kids should be off limits 

That was not the question I asked.  Sure Trump Jr. is an adult and he entered public life during the campaign, but I asked what anyone would do if it was their own child in the same position with the same relentless attacks by biased media over something that was essentially meaningless and was created by an actual foreign collusion by the other side.  The biased media will not stop which is their right, but I know I would attack them and their lack or omission of fact that is all driven by pure harted, jealousy and envy.

 

Btw, I believe there have been attacks on Baron by media types and MDL pundits.  Classy.

[smilesammich 10,727]

Just now, Bill & Katya said:

 

That was not the question I asked.  Sure Trump Jr. is an adult and he entered public life during the campaign, but I asked what anyone would do if it was their own child in the same position with the same relentless attacks by biased media over something that was essentially meaningless and was created by an actual foreign collusion by the other side.  The biased media will not stop which is their right, but I know I would attack them and their lack or omission of fact that is all driven by pure harted, jealousy and envy.

 

Btw, I believe there have been attacks on Baron by media types and MDL pundits.  Classy.

the question you asked is based in a false premise - namely that jr is being attacked over something that is 'essentially meaningless'.

[Dashinka 24,489]

2 minutes ago, smilesammich said:

the question you asked is based in a false premise - namely that jr is being attacked over something that is 'essentially meaningless'.

Explain to me how a campaign taking a meeting that may lead to opposition research is extraordinary?  I suppose only one side is allowed to gather opposition research.

[smilesammich 10,727]

3 minutes ago, Bill & Katya said:

Explain to me how a campaign taking a meeting that may lead to opposition research is extraordinary?  I suppose only one side is allowed to gather opposition research.

Quote

Most of the political conversation has centered on the impropriety and possible illegality of the first point of contact while not raising similar concerns about the second. President Trump has deliberately and regularly conflated the two, arguing that the former meeting was innocuous and that the real malfeasance — the real collusion — was between Clinton’s campaign and those Russians who were speaking to Steele.

Trump is incorrect. There is no reason to think that Clinton’s campaign is culpable for any illegal act related to the employment of Steele and good reason to think that the law was broken around the meeting at Trump Tower — and that members of the Trump team might face legal consequences.

At issue is a federal statute stipulating that foreign nationals cannot contribute to political campaigns. That law, though, doesn’t just bar cash donations.

The statute’s written very, very broadly,” said Bob Bauer, a former White House counsel under Barack Obama who now teaches at New York University Law School. “It applies to promises of support — promises express or implied. It applies to independent expenditures, meaning those with express advocacy. It applies to any expenditure, meaning those that may not be express advocacy expenditures but are for the purpose of influencing the federal election. It applies to disbursements. It is extremely broad.”

The law was first passed in 1966. It was strengthened in 1974 and, under the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law, in 2002. It bars any contribution, even a small-donor contribution, from a noncitizen and puts strict limits on the involvement of foreign individuals or organizations. Further, and importantly, the law prohibits any American from aiding any of the above efforts. We noted last week that “collusion” can be another word for “conspiracy,” and that those aiding a Russian effort to provide illegal assistance or soliciting that assistance could be held criminally liable.

In the case of the Trump Tower meeting, Veselnitskaya came to the United States with information that was pitched to the Trump team (Trump Jr. specifically) as damaging to Clinton. That was something of legal value, even if the campaign didn’t find it useful.

“They’re spending money both to acquire the information. They’re spending money to distribute the information. They clearly didn’t walk from Moscow,” Bauer said.

And, of course, it’s not as though the Trump campaign suddenly found an unexpected manila folder of information slipped under its door.

“The Trump campaign invited them to come. It was a proposition that was offered, and it was accepted,” Bauer said, referring to the exchange of messages between Trump Jr. and music publicist Rob Goldstone that set up the meeting itself — an email exchange that indicated the offer was “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.”

“The law prohibits Americans from soliciting foreign nationals’ assistance,” he added. “The solicitation provision is very broad. You don’t have to specifically say, ‘I really would like you to do X’; you could indicate, since they’ve already said they want to help you out, that you’re open for business. That you actually want their support.”

Bauer notes that the “conspiracy to defraud the United States” charge filed against the Russians involved in attempts to manipulate Americans over social media “was built around the concealment of this activity from regulators that prevented the Federal Election Commission from enforcing the provisions” of the statute above. Others, he argued, might similarly be charged in the same way. (As The Post reported on Sunday, Trump has expressed some concern that his son may have unwittingly crossed legal lines with his actions during the campaign.)

So why doesn’t all of this apply to the pathway linking Clinton, the law firm, Fusion GPS and Christopher Steele? For a few key reasons.

One argument is that, since Steele is not a U.S. citizen, he would be barred from involvement in the campaign as surely as the Russians should have been. Lawrence Noble, former chief counsel for the FEC, explained the difference in the situations over email.

“Paying a foreign national fair market value for opposition research is generally not illegal,” Noble wrote. “It is considered a commercial transaction, which is not a contribution.” Clinton’s campaign had paid Fusion GPS directly; it’s a campaign expenditure, not a campaign contribution. Since it’s not a contribution, the FEC allows it.

Steele was hired by Fusion GPS to see what links might exist between Trump and Russian actors. Those connections, built during his service for the British government, were why he was valuable to Fusion GPS. It’s akin to a campaign looking to investigate an opponent’s history of real estate deals in Mexico: Hiring a Mexican firm that’s familiar with the available records would be perfectly legal, if the firm were paid with legally raised campaign contributions.

“I think there is something fundamentally different about the interference when it comes from a foreign government, as opposed to a foreign national individual or even business,” Noble added. “The campaign finance law doesn’t explicitly make that distinction, but it does implicitly show up in some FEC decisions regarding individuals. For example, a foreign national individual can undertake volunteer activity for a campaign, while a government can’t.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/08/06/why-the-trump-tower-meeting-may-have-violated-the-law-and-the-steele-dossier-likely-didnt/

[The Nature Boy 7,659]

16 minutes ago, Bill & Katya said:

 

That was not the question I asked.  Sure Trump Jr. is an adult and he entered public life during the campaign, but I asked what anyone would do if it was their own child in the same position with the same relentless attacks by biased media over something that was essentially meaningless and was created by an actual foreign collusion by the other side.  The biased media will not stop which is their right, but I know I would attack them and their lack or omission of fact that is all driven by pure harted, jealousy and envy.

 

Btw, I believe there have been attacks on Baron by media types and MDL pundits.  Classy.

There have been, seems like there was a thread where some MDL outlet accused him of being autistic and the usual suspects defended the attack. It mad me mad just like it did when some outlet published a picture of one of Obama's kids supposedly toking on one .

[Dashinka 24,489]

21 minutes ago, smilesammich said:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/08/06/why-the-trump-tower-meeting-may-have-violated-the-law-and-the-steele-dossier-likely-didnt/

Wow, a WaPo piece justifying Hillary’s use of a foreign agent and saying what Trump Jr. did was illegal.

 

Btw, what is generally not illegal about what Hillary did with Steele.  I believe they soliticied him for the information and then laundered the payment marking it as legal work,why not pay them directly from the campaign.

 

Just another example of media bias.  Thanks.