# Leaked report of Russian blackmail of Trump **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 10, 2017, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846 "2017-01-10T23:59:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Okrahoma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90db22/32.png) [@Okrahoma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Okrahoma)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/221 "2017-01-11T18:03:03Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > If it is a fabrication, shouldn’t someone from those ranks eventually allude to that? As in From MSNBC: "Senior U.S. intel official tells NBC News that Trump, Russia dossier is “ **unvetted disinformation** ” > ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/222 "2017-01-11T18:08:00Z")
> [@Okrahoma](#): > > As in > > From MSNBC: "Senior U.S. intel official tells NBC News that Trump, Russia dossier is “ **unvetted disinformation** ” > > [x.com](https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/819191141174120452) Unvetted disinformation? WTF is that? You can have unvetted information or vetted disinformation, but not unvetted disinformation. They’re mutually exclusive, hopefully for obvious reasons. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/223 "2017-01-11T18:08:16Z")
> [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](#): > > I should know better than to entertain this, but… > > What you typed is extreme poppycock. If you believe CNN or Buzzfeed ran with this story in the vein of objective journalism, you’re either a fool or you are lying to yourself. Or both. John McCain presented what he believed to be credible evidence of Russian blackmail of Trump. John McCain. Republican Senator. This is a newsworthy event. The fact that there’s a document and John McCain presented it for investigation is worth reporting. Do you seriously disagree with this? Do you think that it’s “fake news” if they report on that? > [@](#): > > Both CNN and Buzzfeed are objectively anti-Trump. Since the left cannot stop Trump from becoming President (and God knows they tried), they’ve devolved imto trying to deligitimize him by posting every last but of sensationalist “news” that they can get is hands on. They didn’t create this story, they reported on AN ACTUAL EVENT INVOLVING AN ACTUAL DOCUMENT BY AN ACTUAL REPUBLICAN SENATOR. CNN and Buzzfeed did not make up the existance of John McCain, nor the fact that he turned this in, nor the fact that he believes it to come for a credible source. Nor did they fabricate the contents of the document. CNN didn’t even release it at all - they said they were investigating - Buzzfeed released it but with the caveat that it should be read as unconfirmed. > [@](#): > > Knowing that a story is unverified by deciding to post it anyway is tabloid level reporting, if you want to call it reporting at all. If, say, FOX posted an unverified story about Obama doing blow and banging hookers in the Oval Office based on a “report”, I highly doubt you’d label that as anything other than fake news. No, I wouldn’t, because that would be fucking retarded. I might say “the report is probably fake fake” or “it’s implausible” or something like that if it were out of the blue, but I wouldn’t call it fake news when news agencies reported on the fact that high level officials are having discussions about a document which they think needs investigation. “Obama turns into a lizard and eats a baby” is fake news. “John McCain presented a document to the FBI that he believes to be a credible” is not fake news. I don’t think you’re actually failing to understand this. > [@](#): > > What is “actual fake news”? I already said that in the post you’re responding to. “Compare this to right wing actual fake news where they know from the start that what they’re publishing is a lie, they made it up themselves, and they tell their readers it’s the absolute truth.” > [@](#): > > It certainly is disinformation. Do you recall them running with any such storied with Obama? Or were they quick to point out how ridiculous they were and how such allegations weren’t deserving of serious coverage? What? They treated crazy anti-Obama stories like they were real debates all the time. The birther thing was around for years. The media is so afraid of being called liberal that they give right wing clap trap way too much credibility instead of just junking it like they should. > [@](#): > > You’re a partisan for not just believing any of this, but giving it the time of day, and then trying to rationalize it on the basis that this report doesn’t meet the standard by which you deem something to be fake news, even though you’d scream bloody murder if the roles were reversed. You have absolutely no evidence of your assertion. You, yourself, are so partisan that you can only view my opposition to you in this instance as being the opposite side of the same coin. It simply isn’t true. I have never displayed the sort of behavior you’re accusing me of, and you have absolutely no evidence that I have. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/224 "2017-01-11T18:27:51Z")
> [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](#): > > What is “actual fake news”? This has already been explained. The correct definition of “fake news” is “falsehoods generated and circulated by some person or group in a style that misrepresents them as news reports”. Please try to keep up with the class. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/225 "2017-01-11T18:29:51Z")
> [@Anny\_Middon](#): > > So I wasn’t too surprised that pussy-grabbing didn’t bother his supporters that much. A lot of them I suspect saw that as typical male behavior. > > But golden showers? Like weenie-wagging, that’s something perverts would do. So yeah, this may have an impact on how some of his followers see him. Indeed. The difference is that, to Trump’s base voters, pussy-grabbing is _manly_. This stuff is most decidedly _un_manly. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/226 "2017-01-11T18:43:50Z")
[QUOTE=Omg a Black Conservative] Sounds to me like you’re reading his tweets through your own biases. [/QUOTE] Nah, it is clear that Trump is the one resorting to hysteria. > **[Trump stands by ‘Nazi Germany’ tweet after Jewish groups demand apology](https://www.nydailynews.com/2017/01/11/trump-stands-by-nazi-germany-tweet-after-jewish-groups-demand-apology/)** > > President-elect Donald Trump’s “Nazi Germany” tweet went over about as well as you’d expect. The next President horrified Jewish groups Wednesday with a tweet that likened t… > [@](#): > > “Intelligence agencies should never have allowed this fake news to “leak” into the public. One last shot at me.Are we living in Nazi Germany?” Trump wrote in one of several tweets on the leak. > > His comment drew immediate rebuke from Jewish and Holocaust education groups. > > “It is a despicable insult to Holocaust survivors around the world, and to the nation he is about to lead, that Donald Trump compares America to Nazi Germany,” Steven Goldstein, executive director of the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect, said in a statement. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/227 "2017-01-11T18:46:51Z")
> [@Donald\_Rump](#): > > Possibly this qualifies as irresponsible/bad journalism, but conservatives are abusing the term “fake news” to the point of rendering it meaningless. This appears to be the new standard mode of attack- find a term that has gotten traction on the left (safe spaces, fake news, trigger warnings) and abuse/overuse/mock the hell out of it until it has no meaning any more. ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/228 "2017-01-11T18:47:02Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > Indeed. The difference is that, to Trump’s base voters, pussy-grabbing is _manly_. This stuff is most decidedly _un_manly. Exactly. An arrogant mysoginist can easily convince himself that there is nothing wrong with being outed publicly as a p-grabber, but it doesn’t work that way with “deviant” activity like golden showers. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/229 "2017-01-11T18:52:39Z")
He didn’t participate, he watched. Two women engage in it. As he’s misogynistic, I think that would be right up his alley. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/230 "2017-01-11T19:04:48Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Nah, it is clear that Trump is the one resorting to hysteria. I don’t even understand what he’s going for with that analogy. What role does he play in that analogy? Or is this one of those classic Trump projection things where he accuses everyone else of whatever he’s doing or planning on doing? ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/231 "2017-01-11T19:05:59Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > The sheer volume of things you have to believe are true that are not to be a Trump supporter is staggering; it’s just dozens and dozens of things that are not only lies, but _preposterous_ lies. It’s a post-truth world and it’s time to admit it. This latest revelation does not come anywhere near genuine harm to Trump even if it turns out to be 100% true. Speaking of “_things you have to believe are true that are not_”, do you intend to back up (or back away from) your earlier claim in this thread that “_we’ve known […] for months […] that Trump is heavily in debt to Russian banks and/or mobsters and/or the Russian government_”? ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/232 "2017-01-11T19:15:32Z")
> [@Kron](#): > > This appears to be the new standard mode of attack- find a term that has gotten traction on the left (safe spaces, fake news, trigger warnings) and abuse/overuse/mock the hell out of it until it has no meaning any more. I thought that the new “standard mode of attack” was to claim a commonly used term (safe spaces, fake news) as one of their own, and berate others from not following the new Groupspeak? I can hardly wait for the usual anti-Republican, anti-conservative, anti-Trump comedians to explain to the Democrat collective how the Democrat collective should feel about this horrific situation where people reject their claims. _THOSE people aren’t listening to us. Why aren’t they listening to us? They must listen to us. Don’t we think we are smarter than them? We tell each other we’re smarter than them. Why don’t they respect us when we tell them how to think?_ ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/233 "2017-01-11T19:18:05Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > He didn’t participate, he watched. Two women engage in it. As he’s misogynistic, I think that would be right up his alley. Is this another one of those fake news stories I’ve been hearing about? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/234 "2017-01-11T19:22:31Z")
> [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](#): > > Maybe if I said all, most or even the majority of, you’d have a point. Maybe if you said all, most, or the majority of…_what_, dude? I have no idea what you didn’t say the majority of. I’m quite sure you said all of what I quoted you as saying. You can’t even do a good job of being grammatically pedantic. If you’re gonna play that game, you need to have game. > [@](#): > > You do know what some means, correct? Maybe you’re trying to ask, “do you know what ‘some means’ means?” Yes, I do, for I am a man of some means. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/235 "2017-01-11T19:35:54Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Why don’t they respect us when we tell them how to think? Telling people how to think is something I can get behind. Telling people _what_ to think is where people cross the line. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/236 "2017-01-11T19:42:19Z")
Even for the Russians, it would be impossible to blackmail Trump. You just can’t. / KGB guy with heavy Russian accent " Look here, Mr. Trump, it vod be a shame if deez images I just showde you, of you chjeering on deez ladies, found their way to the public, no? " Trump: “Nonsense. I would never do such a depraved thing. Those images are forged”. KGB guy with heavy Russian accent: “Bod you were right there! Ve filmed these last week!” Trump: “No, YOU were there. Those women are ugly. I can get better women. You’re jealous. All this is fake news meant to tarnish my reputation, because I’m so succesfull. Sad.” KGB guy with heavy Russian accent: “Bod…” Trump: ::presses buzzer:: " Show this gentleman out, please." ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/237 "2017-01-11T20:23:04Z")
> [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](#): > > If you believe CNN or Buzzfeed ran with this story in the vein of objective journalism, you’re either a fool or you are lying to yourself. Or both. Your “If” doers not protect you from your violation of the rules. (Particularly when you go on, later in the post, to accuse your opponent of holding the views you “hypothesize” here.) Do not call other posters liars or fools in this forum. [/Moderating] ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/238 "2017-01-11T21:12:46Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > Speaking of “_things you have to believe are true that are not_”, do you intend to back up (or back away from) your earlier claim in this thread that “_we’ve known […] for months […] that Trump is heavily in debt to Russian banks and/or mobsters and/or the Russian government_”? Why would I back away from it? He’s in hock for a lot of rubles. You’ll see. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/239 "2017-01-11T21:16:50Z")
I don’t know, I kind of had this vague idea that if you’ve made a definitive assertion about something with no evidence, and someone else provides a cite which casts some doubt on that, that the straightforward thing to do would be one of those two options. Shouldn’t be too hard either, if indeed we’ve known it for months. Your call, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/240 "2017-01-11T21:39:27Z")
> [@skdo23](#): > > … Marco Rubio is currently tearing Rex Tillerson a new one as I write this … Yes; Rubio, apparently, isn’t going to roll over and play dead when it comes to Trump’s drive to please Putin, the way most of his GOP colleagues plainly intend to do. Good for Rubio. By the way, as much as I’d like to know what blackmail material Putin may have on Trump—surely it’s nearly as important to know what Putin may have on _Tillerson_. Tillerson certainly has been adamant in his refusal to consider whether the Russian bombing of civilian targets in Syria might be “war crimes”…so much so that it makes one wonder. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846.md?page=13)