• Welcome to OGBoards 10.0, keep in mind that we will be making LOTS of changes to smooth out the experience here and make it as close as possible functionally to the old software, but feel free to drop suggestions or requests in the Tech Support subforum!

Does Putin have something on Trump? (Answer: YES)

THE DEUCE said:
the wheels are about to come off
Click to expand...

That's what I'm thinking. They seem like they've been scrambling since the Sessions news broke and it's been getting worse by the day.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
 
Carter Page has been given a document retention order by the senate intel committee


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
JManslow said:
Carter Page has been given a document retention order by the senate intel committee


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

raw
 
WakeForestRanger said:
Trump campaign gave Carter Page permission for Moscow trip

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/03/07/campaign-granted-page-permission-moscow-trip/98874648/
Click to expand...

He gave a glowing review of US/Western values while on that approved trip.


Trump’s Russia adviser criticizes U.S. for ‘hypocritical focus on democratization’

MOSCOW — An American foreign-policy adviser to Donald Trump chided the United States on Thursday for an “often-hypocritical focus on democratization, inequality, corruption and regime change” in its dealings with Russia, China and Central Asia.

Carter Page, an energy executive tapped by the presumptive Republican nominee’s campaign for his business experience in the former Soviet Union, told students and journalists gathered in a Moscow lecture hall that Washington had missed opportunities to work with leaders such as Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping because it had ignored principles of “respect, equality and mutual benefit.”

Page’s remarks put him, like Trump, at sharp odds with the Obama administration and traditional Republican policy circles, which have viewed Russia in more adversarial terms over the war in Syria, the conflict in Ukraine and other issues. The bilateral relationship has soured to Cold War-era levels in recent years.

He generally avoided questions on U.S. foreign policy, but when one attendee asked him whether he really believed the United States was a “liberal, democratic society,” Page told him to “read between the lines.”

“If I’m understanding the direction you’re coming from, I tend to agree with you that it’s not always as liberal as it may seem,” he said. “I’m with you.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...550dba926ac_story.html?utm_term=.c321ce8708d3
 
Last edited:
From Australian Press:

Donald Trump's team issued at least 20 denials of contacts with Russia
http://www.smh.com.au/world/donald-...-of-contacts-with-russia-20170302-guprc6.html

Mar 3, 2017
Advertisement
Sessions to recuse himself from any investigation

President Trump, and his presidential campaign, have issued at least 20 denials of campaign officials' communications with and connections with Russian officials. Here's a listing of their denials beginning in July 2016:

July 24, 2016

Advertisement
Paul Manafort, appearing on ABC's This Week, is asked by host George Stephanopoulos whether there are any connections between the Trump campaign and Russia or its president. "No, there are not. And you know, there's no basis to it."

August 5, 2016

Hope Hicks, then-spokesperson for Trump's campaign, in comments to The Washington Post for a story about Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page's comments in a Moscow speech sharply criticising American foreign policy involving Russia, minimises Page as an "informal foreign policy adviser" who "does not speak for Mr Trump or the campaign." Page's talk in early July at the New Economic School in Moscow said the US and its allies "impeded potential progress through their often hypocritical focus on ideas such as democratisation, inequality, corruption and regime change."

August 29, 2016

President Donald Trump has issued several denials over his team's contacts with Russia.
President Donald Trump has issued several denials over his team's contacts with Russia. Photo: AP
Carter Page, who characterised himself as "on leave" as a foreign policy adviser to Trump campaign, denied allegations by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, in a letter to the FBI that Page might be acting as a go-between for the Trump campaign with Russian officials.

September 23, 2016

Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller continued the campaign's effort to distance itself from Page, telling an investigative reporter for Yahoo News that Page "has no role" and adding, "We are not aware of any of his activities, past or present."

September 24, 2016

Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign's rapid response director, gives ABC News an almost identical statement to Miller's. "He has no role," Cheung said. "We are not aware of any of his activities, past or present."

September 25, 2016

Kellyanne Conway, being interviewed by CNN's Jake Tapper, denied the campaign had any links to Page at all. "He's certainly not part of the campaign that I'm running, meaning we don't have him -- we have a number of people, fabulous people, men and women, as part of our national security and foreign policy team. And he's not among them at Trump Tower." Asked whether Page had contact with any Kremlin officials, Conway said, "If he's doing that, he's certainly not doing it with the permission or knowledge of the campaign, the activities that you described." She goes on to add: "He is certainly not authorised to do that."

Kellyanne Conway denied the campaign had any links to Russia.
Kellyanne Conway denied the campaign had any links to Russia. Photo: AP

November 1, 2016

Manafort, former campaign manager, responding to news reports that the FBI was investigating his connections and contacts with Russia, told NBC News, "None of it is true." He went on to say, "There's no investigation going on by the FBI that I'm aware of." Manafort told NBC he never had a connection to Putin or interactions with the Russian government. He labelled the allegations "political propaganda, meant to deflect."

November 11, 2016

Hicks, responding to public statements by multiple Russian government officials that they had indeed had regular contact with the Trump campaign throughout the election, gave the Associated Press a blanket denial. "It never happened. There was no communication between the campaign and any foreign entity during the campaign."

December 12, 2016

President-elect Donald Trump tweets:

Can you imagine if the election results were the opposite and WE tried to play the Russia/CIA card. It would be called conspiracy theory!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2016
January 10, 2017

Trump offers a flurry of tweets in response to leaks of a former British spy's dossier about connections between the campaign and Russian government officials and operatives:

FAKE NEWS - A TOTAL POLITICAL WITCH HUNT!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2017
January 10, 2017

Michael Cohen, a longtime lawyer for the Trump Organisation who now serves as a personal lawyer for President Trump, denied ever having travelled to Prague - in response to allegations in a leaked dossier by a British spy alleging repeated contacts between Trump associates and Russians.

January 10, 2017

Jeff Sessions, testifying under oath at his Senate confirmation hearing, denied having any contacts with Russia during the election under questioning by Senator Al Franken. Said Sessions during the hearing: "I'm not aware of any of those activities. I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the Russians." On Wednesday, The Washington Post reported Sessions did in fact talk with the Russian ambassador two times, once in July and again in September.

January 11, 2017

Trump continues tweeting about news stories about the dossier's allegations:

Russia just said the unverified report paid for by political opponents is "A COMPLETE AND TOTAL FABRICATION, UTTER NONSENSE." Very unfair!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2017
And then added moments later, also via Twitter:

Russia has never tried to use leverage over me. I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA - NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NO NOTHING!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2017
January 11, 2017

Sean Spicer, a spokesman for the transition who is now White House press secretary, distanced the campaign from Carter Page again after Page's name surfaced as one of the campaign's contacts with Russian operatives in a former British spy's dossier. "Carter Page is an individual whom the President-elect does not know and was put on notice months ago by the campaign."

January 13, 2017

Trump again takes to Twitter to deny stories about Russian connections:

Totally made up facts by sleazebag political operatives, both Democrats and Republicans - FAKE NEWS! Russia says nothing exists. Probably...

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 13, 2017
January 16, 2017

Trump told reporters, "I have nothing to do with Russia. To the best of my knowledge, no person that I deal with does."

February 7, 2017

President Trump tweets: "I don't know Putin, have no deals in Russia, and the haters are going crazy -- yet Obama can make a deal with Iran, #1 in terror, no problem."

February 14, 2017

Spicer, during the daily press briefing, was asked whether he could "say definitively that nobody on the Trump campaign, not even General Flynn, had any contact with the Russians before the election?" Spicer replied: "My understanding is that what General Flynn has now expressed is that during the transition period -- well, we were very clear that during the transition period, he did speak with the ambassador." A reporter, following up, reiterated to clarify that the question was about "during the campaign." Spicer said, "I don't have any ... there's nothing that would conclude me ... that anything different has changed with respect to that time period."

February 16, 2017

During a wide-ranging press conference at the White House, President Trump said in response to one of many questions about Russia: "Russia is a ruse. I have nothing to do with Russia. Haven't made a phone call to Russia in years. Don't speak to people from Russia. Not that I wouldn't. I just have nobody to speak to. I spoke to Putin twice. He called me on the election. I told you this. And he called me on the inauguration, a few days ago. We had a very good talk, especially the second one, lasted for a pretty long period of time. I'm sure you probably get it because it was classified. So I'm sure everybody in this room perhaps has it. But we had a very, very good talk. I have nothing to do with Russia. To the best of my knowledge no person that I deal with does. Now, Manafort has totally denied it. He denied it. Now people knew that he was a consultant over in that part of the world for a while, but not for Russia. I think he represented Ukraine or people having to do with Ukraine, or people that -- whoever. But people knew that. Everybody knew that."

Donald Trump told the press conference that he had nothing to do with Russia.
Donald Trump told the press conference that he had nothing to do with Russia. Photo: Bloomberg

Further pressed by a reporter about whether Manafort was having contact with the Russians in his capacity as Trump's campaign manager, President Trump said: "You know what? He said no. I could only tell you what he -- now he was replaced long before the election. You know that, right? He was replaced long before the election. When all of this stuff started coming out, it came out during the election. But Paul Manafort, who's a good man also by the way, Paul Manafort was replaced long before the election took place. He was only there for a short period of time."

February 19, 2017

Reince Priebus, White House chief of staff, gave a blanket "no" when asked by Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday whether the Trump team had any connections with Moscow. Priebus went on later in the interview to add: "Let me give you an example. First of all, The New York Times put out an article with no direct sources that said that the Trump campaign had constant contacts with Russian spies, basically, you know, some treasonous type of accusations. We have now all kinds of people looking into this. I can assure you and I have been approved to say this -- that the top levels of the intelligence community have assured me that that story is not only inaccurate, but it's grossly overstated and it was wrong. And there's nothing to it."

And so, if I can say that to the American people, then what does it say about the story?

February 20, 2017

Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Sanders repeated the denial during a press briefing that the Trump campaign had no contacts with Russian officials during the campaign. "This is a non-story because to the best of our knowledge, no contacts took place, so it's hard to make a comment on something that never happened."
 
Here's another boom...

The meeting seems fairly innocuous but again, why lie about it?

Trump Met Russian Ambassador During Campaign at Speech Reception

Trump met Kislyak during a VIP reception April 27 at the Mayflower Hotel shortly before a foreign policy address, according to a report at the time in the Wall Street Journal. In the speech, Trump said an "easing of tensions and improved relations with Russia" is possible.

The Wall Street Journal article, published May 13, reported Trump "warmly greeted Mr. Kislyak and three other foreign ambassadors who came to the reception."

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/...mbassador-during-campaign-at-speech-reception
 
Maybe not that innocuous.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Donald Trump’s Russia connections
Realists with Moscow ties are lining up behind Republican frontrunner.
By JAMES KIRCHICK 4/27/16, 9:56 PM CET Updated 4/29/16, 7:58 AM CET


That Trump would choose the Center for the National Interest as the place to premier his new seriousness on foreign policy has Manafort’s fingerprints all over it. For Manafort and the Center have something very important in common: both have ties to the Russian regime of President Vladimir Putin, (whose ambassador to the United States sat in the front row for Trump’s address).

For years, Manafort worked as a consultant to ex-Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, building what his own friends characterized as a “political love connection” with the pro-Russian leader. It was Yanukovych’s last-minute refusal to sign a trade agreement with the European Union in 2013 that sparked the Maidan revolution that ultimately drove him from power after his security forces murdered some 100 protestors in downtown Kiev. Yanukovych fled to Russia, where he remains.

Manafort was paid handsomely to clean up Yanukovych’s negative image, much as he is currently trying to do with Trump. But as is often the case with Western PR men hired to put lipstick on a pig, the pig is still a pig.

“Trump is a dangerous, ignorant demagogue” — Professor Eliot Cohen
As for the Center, both it and its journal, the National Interest, are two of the most Kremlin-sympathetic institutions in the nation’s capital, even more so that the Carnegie Moscow Center, which has evolved from a hub of Russian liberalism into an accomodationist, intellectually-compromised think tank.

Center director Dmitri Simes worked as an aide to Nixon and for decades has used his connections to the Kremlin — real or perceived — to cultivate a reputation in Washington as one of the few Russia hands who intimately knows that country’s politics. For years, the Center for the National Interest partnered with the Russian government-funded Institute for Democracy and Cooperation, a New York-based institution whose head, Adranik Migranyan, was personally appointed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, according to a State Department cable released by Wikileaks. In May 2014, the two think tanks held a press conference defending Russia’s position in Ukraine.
 
Last edited:
WakeForestRanger said:
Top Trump Ally Met With Putin’s Deputy in Moscow

Before the NRA poured more than $30 million into Trump’s election, it met with a notorious Kremlin hardliner

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articl...n-moscow.html?via=newsletter&source=DDMorning
Click to expand...

Rogozin was the leader of the ultra-right party called Rodina, or Motherland, and famously believes in the restoration of the Russian Empire, including what he calls “Russian America” (i.e., Alaska).
Click to expand...

Russian America

375px-1860-russian-america.jpg


huh
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top